


Torpor

by SteinShipping61



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: M/M, Prideshipping, Yaoi, yamixkaiba, yugioh - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2019-11-15 16:01:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 31,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18076502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteinShipping61/pseuds/SteinShipping61
Summary: Yami Mouto displays his golden heart on his sleeve. Such kindness and love wasted on oblivious and effervescent family members, aloof friends who find his positive nature tiresome. Shunned by everyone he was once close to, Yami's kindness proves itself a blessing and a curse.Seto Kaiba remains alone, abused by his apathetic stepfather he is doomed to solitude among the cretins of Central Domino searching for the soul time has cruelly shattered without mercy.The bridge overlooking Domino River is where these wayward soldiers meet, just as the sun sets over the river.Trans! Kaiba





	1. Chapter 1

August 1st 2018.  
03:00. 

Clouds roll over buildings blackened with soot, his expensive shows clicking with each intrepid step taken not the centre of the bridge, his walk of shame towards the self-imposed execution. Seto Kaiba knows nothing of love, but he knows what it means to be afraid. 

Stopping in his tracks he sees the outline of a waiting figure, shorter than he with perfectly styled hair dyed in fading purple to puce, a blonde fringe framing his square face and highlighting his amethyst eyes. His tank top clings to his muscular frame. And he's standing on the other side of the railings. 

"Hey!" Kaiba calls, rushing towards the man ready to plunge himself into the icy depths of the canal. Without a thought, he grips harshly onto the man's tank top, as if that would stop him. "What're you doing, come back over the railing!" 

How Kaiba has forgotten that he intends to jump over too. That he wants noting more ham to end his suffering, drowning in his sorrows and in Domino Lake. 

The man stares at him before speaking lowly, his voice a soothing baritone that startles the young CEO. "Please, move on. Forget you saw me here," he shuffles his feet froward, the current pulling him down, every whisper of the wind inching him closer to his fall. "Leave me. I wish to be alone," 

"Just come back over. We can talk about this," Kaiba doesn't know why he cares about the fate of this man. In fact, he doesn't. He cares that his own plans have been spoiled. It's not like he can jump now, especially if this stranger decides to. "You can't just jump into the lake. That doesn't solve anything," 

"It takes away my pain," 

That's Kaiba's logic too. A logic he doesn't know how to counter, because he thinks the exact same. In a desperate moment of spontaneity, either intrepid heroism or stupidity, the CEO grips hold of the stranger's arm, entwining it with his. "If you jump, you'll be taking me with you," 

"Are you insane?!" The stranger asks incredulously. 

"No," Kaiba frowns, letting his fingers slip lower. "But why do you think I too was on this bridge at three in the morning?" 

The stranger's eyes widen in recognition. They both came here for the same thing. They both want to jump. Kaiba nods in affirmation. "That's right. You'll be doing us both a favour if you jump. I don't care what you decide. But know you'll be taking me with you if you do," 

The stranger stares down at the vivacious lake, splashing against the sides of the bridge in angry torment. Flashes of lightning begin through the clouds, lighting up one another's face so both men see the other is crying. Sighing in defeat and disappointment, he stranger swings his legs over the railing and lands in his feet beside Kaiba. 

The CEO smirks in satisfaction. "Great, that saved me the trouble of dying tonight," he chuckles. The stranger simply stares at him disapprovingly. "Not the time for jokes huh?" 

"I wouldn't think so," the stranger extends a hand. "My name is Yami Mutou," 

"Why are you telling me that?" Kaiba asks. 

"Maybe it's the adrenaline, but I think with what just happened we should be on first name terms," Yami reasons, still awaiting the handshake Kaiba now seems trapped into. 

His years of living in high society have conditioned him into accepting the handshake and out of politeness, introduce himself formally. "I'm Seto Kaiba, the head CEO of Kaiba Corp," 

"Why'd you add that bit in?" 

"Force of habit," he shrugs. He scrapes his foot against the railings, still longingly watching the current pass. "I have my limousine parked two blocks away. I can drive you home, if you like,"  he offers, but not out of generosity. Just as insurance. 

"Really?" Yami asks happily. "Thank you, I'd much appreciate that," 

"You're very kind," Kaiba comments. 

"Thank you," 

"That wasn't a compliment," 

The drive is silent, other than Yami commenting on how amazing his car is. Kaiba thanks him bitterly, his privilege an empty shell that hasn't given him pleasure in a long time. He drops Yami off at the address, an apartment with busted windows above a small game shop. Yami offers to bring him in for hot chocolate, and Kaiba declines. "You aren't going to do anything stupid tonight are you?" He asks. 

"No," Yami assures. "And you?" 

No answer comes, just the rolling up of blacked out windows. Kaiba drives off in the direction of the CBD, where his penthouse apartment sits atop the tallest building there. Hanging his coat by the door, he surveys his wide open sitting room. On the 50-inch screen is the opening sequence of Dead By Daylight, Mokuba connecting his controller to the Playstation 4. 

"Oh hey sis!" Mokuba greets tiredly, the twelve war old struggling to remain awake. Kaiba sighs. 

"You're still calling me that?"

"Sorry," his younger brother laughs. "I'm super tired. It's not like I actually still think of you like that," 

"I'm sure," Kaiba rolls his eyes. 

"It's true! Who could ever mistake you for a girl? You're six foot two and your voice is super deep. Besides, I have more of a girly baby face than you!" 

It's genuine, but in Kaiba's mind Mokuba is simply trying to make him feel better. Realising his mistake and overcompensating for it by dishonest compliments. "Thanks," Kaiba ruffles his brother's hair. "Don't stay up all night again, huh?" 

"I won't!" The child assures. 

Kaiba hobbles to his bedroom, passing out before he has the change to remove his clothes and binder.


	2. Chapter 2

Yami watches water drip from his soaked hair as he enters his apartment with some reluctance, wet clothes sticking to his skin, uncomfortably cold. His younger brother Yuugi is sitting on the floor, his legs coiled into a basket. He's playing GTA, button-mashing his controller vigorously, eyes twitching with rapid movement and bright, glaring colours from the screen. His attention seems locked into the game, so Yami creeps behind him, trying to go to his bedroom without being noticed. 

"You're welcome," 

He freezes and turns, Yuugi watching him dubiously as the game is paused. When did that happen? He falters shamefully under that accusatory violet gaze, unable to look up from his own shoes. He isn't used to feeling so meek, the world crumbling around him until he can't even control how nervous his little brother makes him. 

"It was your turn to feed and bathe grandpa," Yuugi reminds coldly, emotionless voice devoid of the innocent qualities it retained until so very recently. 

"I was out," is all he can say, turning to start upstairs again, letting his face melt into the shadows. 

"He's dying, by the way. I had the keep the Oxygen mask on him all night. And change his bedsheets!" Yuugi complains, mouth filling with poison venom as each word is spat. "He's dying. But you clearly don't care," 

"Goodnight, Yuugi," 

Entering his sanctuary of solitude, he lies back on his bed and flicks through his cards. His grandpa's duel deck, given to him on his Sixteenth birthday. Of course, that was when the old man actually remembered him. He looks at each card individually, admiring how each has its useful purpose despite how weak it may seem, examining their intricacies before dumping them back on the box and shoving it as far under his bed as it'll go. This is wrong. 

He's distracted. Usually he always thinks about his grandpa, lamenting the demise of the good times of family picnics and trips to the beach. But now his thought processes are replaced entirely with images of that man. 

Boy? Man? His age is ambiguous, around seventeen or so probably. Tall, dark and stylish, money stretching the fabric of his Gucci suit pockets. Yami can't help but wonder why someone so privileged would be depressed to the point of suicide. Coming from a life of poverty, misery and death, Yami resents the powerful and elite. That guy - Kaiba, he remembers - seemed like a dick anyway. A dick who wouldn't let him drown, a dick who saved his life.

Or just prolonged his suffering.

* 

Kaiba wakes up, wincing in pain at the tightness around his chest, especially his ribs and around his armpits. Erupting into a fit of coughs he rips off his binder, collapsing, slightly lightheaded, onto the pillow. He breathes heavily for a while until the pattern returns to normal, and he doesn't need to make such an effort. For a few seconds afterwards he lies there feeling the overwhelming desire to close his eyes, sleep and stay asleep. 

His dream was the one he has every night, that haunts him every second of every day. The shock of instant pain and blinding flashes of light tearing at his corneas. In hindsight, he doesn't remember much leading up to that moment. The single second of agony is all that remains of that day or even that month. It stretches to hours long when he sleeps. 

On the rare occasion he dreams of something different, he pictures himself as something more. Something better than human. He's always liked dragons. From the age of six watching television duelling tournaments he's collected dragon cards, ultimately hoping for the rarest and best: The Blue Eyes White Dragon. The pinnacle of success. He believed obtaining that would fix all his problems, no matter what they were. 

Now he has it. So why is he still depressed?

There's a soft knocking on his door. 

"Seto? You awake?" 

He freezes and for a second, barely knows what's happening. What should he answer? What are the pros and cons of each answer? Eventually he settles on one, just because the silence is so oppressive. "I am. Come in?" 

You're so awkward Seto... 

Mokuba opens the door and grins in surprise. "Wow Seto your chest!" 

"What?!" 

It's at this point Kaiba realises what his caffeine-insomnia-addled morning brain has done; completely misinterpreted every physical sensation except the pain from his clinging binder. He dives for the blanket, wrapping it around himself quickly. "I-I'm sorry I-" 

"No it looks...good," His younger brother chuckles in admiration. "Those hormones are working Seto," 

He turns back to the mirror, scowling. "Doesn't feel like it," a lowly mumble Mokuba hears, every word making him huff I'm disappointed frustration. 

"Seto you're just super paranoid," shaking his head, letting his long hair bristle outwards. "Anyway, you should shave your face before we leave. You look like a hobo," 

Shave? Leaving? "Where are we going again?" He smiles apologetically, wandering into his private bathroom to change, leaving the door open but staying out of sight. The compression hurts, and his spine feels like it's bending under the pressure, but he manages to breathlessly wrestle with his binder until it clicks into place. 

"You really need more sleep bro," the kid laughs, flopping on the edge of he bed. "You have that meeting with the contractors, you know for KaibaLand?"

Meeting. 

Contractors. 

KaibaLand. 

Fuck. 

"That was today?!" 

Three hours later, he leaves the meeting exhausted. There are 'problems' with the design. His design. Given the giant structures Kaiba wants erected they'd need more specialist builders and steelworks to deal with that, meaning a rise in labour costs, not to mention the overhead occurring with any structural issues down the line. Not that this entire operation is already costing ¥75 billion.  

Kaiba scrunches yo his contract and throws it in a bin just outside the firm, kicking it angrily, growling with each harsh jerk. "Seto? You okay?" 

"Those assholes think they can get away with this!" He extends a long finger to the building, pointing up at it but fixing his gaze to the floor. "This isn't about how difficult the structures will be to build, it's about them sucking as much money as they can out of me!" 

"Bro, calm down, you're scari-" 

"I've been in pain all day!" Kaiba half-yells, half-sobs through laboured, difficult breathing. Sweat makes his hair cling to his forehead, curling around his eyes and highlighting his too-small nose and fuller-than-desires red lips. "This damn thing hurts!" 

Nausea comes in sweeping waves battering his brain's defences. Logic long lost with dehydration. The utter hopelessness of the situation crashing down upon him makes his vision blur, queasily leaning on the edge of a nearby bench. "The car's around the corner. Have the chauffeur drive you home," Kaiba instructs hoarsely. 

"Big bro, please, I'm worried," so easy to cry, tears begin to form under Mokuba's eyes. "Just come home with me. We can order pizza!" 

The thought of eating right now makes Kaiba's weak stomach churn. "I'll pass," he sneers, stumbling in the direction of Domino Bridge.


	3. Chapter 3

The gun hangs from his hand just as his coat hangs down around his knees. His collar is pulled against his ears, shielding them from the winds. He turns into the bridge, watching the choppy river pass underneath, fast currents pulling debris along, shattering apart thick planks of wood. Kaiba raises his eyebrows slightly in wonder of what it'd do to a frail human body. I suppose I'll never know. He thinks blandly as he raises the gun to his own head, stepping onto the high railings with his long legs. 

His body sways back and forth with the rhythm of the sea, shaking hand pressing the barrel of the gun against his pounding temple. 

"Kaiba?!" 

He turns to see Yami standing on the bridge, staring up at him with an accusatory frown, terror forcing his jaw to hang open. "Yami?!" 

"Kaiba, what are you doing here?!" 

"Seems like our roles have been reversed," Kaiba meets his gaze. "The difference is, you won't be able to stop me," 

"I think I will," Yami speaks in is deep monotone, immersing Kaiba in each syllable. "Kaiba, I get the feeling you aren't nice to anyone. But you stopped me on that bridge. Until you tell me why, I'm not going to let you kill yourself,"

"That... doesn't even make sense," 

"And you're still alive, aren't you?" Yami chuckles, extending his hand to help the taller down. Kaiba scoffs, shaking his head in incredulity. Yami notices a small smile form on his pale face, gone as quick as it came. 

"Idiot," Kaiba rolls his eyes as he accepts the offer, letting Yami help him down. "Fine, I'll come down. I'm keeping the gun on me, though," 

"I wouldn't expect anything else," Yami watches Kaiba conceal it inside his jacket. "So, what happens now?"

"I wouldn't expect you to walk home so late. You live in the rougher part of Domino, after all," Kaiba looks up at the sky, his gaze briefly flickering to the impending cumulonimbus clouds rolling in from the distance. "And it looks like it might rain. My house isn't far, you can stay if you want," 

"Why are you inviting me?" Yami asks, narrowing his amethyst jewels in suspicion, stepping back slightly from the deranged billionaire. "I get the impression you aren't always so kind,"

"I'm feeling generous. Don't get used to it," Kaiba chuckles, jumping down gracefully, the heels of his boots clacking on the stone. "You'll just disappoint yourself," 

* 

They pass the Kaiba Corp. building, which Kaiba himself can't bear to look at. His chest is getting constricted, and he hunches forward slightly as they reach the crowded city, neck crawling with the judging stares of others. "What are you nervous about?" Yami chuckles. 

"I'm not nervous," 

"You're stiff as a board and your jaw is clenched," the smaller points out. 

"You're not as dumb as I thought," Kaiba shrugs, slipping his hands deep into his coat pockets. He discovered long ago that long coats conceal his hips. "I don't like crowds. Too many idiots to deal with," 

Yami's amusement dissipates to sympathy as he rests a supportive hand on Kaiba's shoulder, which is a difficult thing when you're eight inches shorter than him. "You're scared people are looking at you," he corrects. Kaiba, in this way, reminds him of Yuugi before he became too old to be fun. "Don't worry, if anything people are looking at my haircut,"

Kaiba laughs a little, admitting the truth in that. 

When they approach the vast acres of garden Kaiba owns centred by a Taj Mahal-style mansion with rounded domes, Yami stares in wonder as the soft lighting brightens the white pillars. "You live here?!" The mild-mannered teen gasps, unable to hide his shock. 

"If you like this, wait till you see my private jet," Kaiba types in the keypad, the gates creeping open. "After you," 

The interior of the house is just as grand, spiralling staircases onto the second floor, a balcony smoothed around a hanging silver chandelier. "This is amazing!" Yami declares. The centrepiece of the main hall is a long portrait of the Blue Eyes White Dragon card, hand painted. "Do you play Duel Monsters?" Yamis asks curiously. 

"I love it," Kaiba admits shyly. "I've won some tour-" he realises that if he mentions his trophies, Yami will want to see them. Specifically, see the golden engraved nameplate shamefully stating his deadname. To avoid a very uncomfortable explanation, he avoids the trophy room and steers the boy, still paralysed with shock, upstairs. 

"Big brother!" The cheerful voice calls from his bedroom, peeking his head out from the doorway. "Are you okay?!" 

His eyes fix on Yami - or specifically his hair. "Who's this Seto?" 

"I'm Yami," he steps forward, smiling at the cute child who reminds him of a younger Yuugi. "I'm a friend of your brother. What's your name?"

"Mokuba!" He smiles happily, grinning at the incredulous fact that his brother actually has a friend! "Are you staying over? Oh! Let's play video games and I have snacks too and-" 

"I'm sorry, but," he smiles apologetically. "I'm a little tired. It's very late, after all. That reminds me, where am I sleeping?" 

"Guess bedroom's down the hall," Mokuba smiles. "I'll show you!"


	4. Chapter 4

As soon Mokuba has Yami in the empty, light pink room alone, he slams the door closed and leans against it. Yami watches his cross his arms over his chest, scrutinising the new stranger dubiously. "What do you want with my big brother?" The child demands heatedly, popping a bright blue lollipop into his mouth like detectives in noir films did with their pipes. 

"Uh, well right now I kinda wanna change," he tugs at his tank top. "This is wet," 

Mokuba nods in the direction of the wardrobe. "Pyjamas are in there. Used to be Seto's. You're a bit bigger than me so they'll fit you," 

Yami nods but doesn't move, realising the child isn't going to leave yet. "Can I help you with something?" 

"You're a guest, don't act entitled," he corrects the elder boy. "Look, I just wanna know why you're here, and why you're hanging around Seto," 

"I like your brother, he seems sad. I'd like to help him," Yami shrugs. "We're friends,  I suppose," 

"Seto doesn't have friends," Mokuba seethes back. "And he certainly doesn't need any help from you!" 

The child storms from the room, slamming the door closed. Something to dismiss; Yuugi still throws tantrums too. But that line, a single statement he mustn't have realised he was making. Certainly not realised the effect it would have. Seto doesn't have friends. What a lonely existence. For all the shit that's going down, Yami can always count on his good natured clique of close friends, people he'd trust with his life. And Kaiba... or Seto... doesn't have that? How depressing. 

He strips of his clothes and steps into the marble shower booth in the room's huge bathroom, which immediately adjusts to a soothing warm temperature. Standing there, he tilts his head back, closing his eyes as a gentle waterfall cascades over his body, dampening his hair until it falls in tri-coloured strands to his shoulders. 

It's when he's alone and in silence that he can really think. Evaluate his life, weighing the good against he bad and always, no matter what, being thankful for the good. He thinks of his Grandpa, that loving, sweet man who did everything for him when their parents moved away. Yuugi was always the genius and Yami loved to watch Sugoroku teach him about archeology and games and puzzles. 

He was always more of a physical person. 

So when their Grandpa fell ill  and was rushed to hospital, he knew it would be his turn to step up. To become the guardian Yuugi never had and take care of their Grandpa now too, just like he did for them. He realises he's crying in the shower, because he can't even do that right. 

So he turns the knot until the shower is icy cold, torrents of biting frozen shards battering down on his skin. He stays until his fingers turn blue and then turns the water off. 

Stepping out the shower, Yami stares at himself in the mirror. Drying his hair with a soft, fluffy towel - engraved with Kaiba's initials no less - he has to chuckle at the overeager decadence of this mansion. "Overcompensating much?" He chuckles, dressing in the silk (for some reason baby pink) pyjamas available in Mokuba's size. Again, with SK stitched in darker pink on the breast pocket. 

Stepping into the corridor, gasping at his nice the fluffy carpet feels in his bare feet, he scampers to Kaiba's room, the door to which is a big Duel Monsers card, and knocks. 

"J-Just a second!" 

Yami can hear some fumbling before the door opens, the tall man standing in a fresh black turtleneck that clings to his skinny, angular frame. "You aren't dressed for bed," Yami observes. 

"Oh, that?" The billionaire chuckles, opening the door wider so Yami can walk in. "I still have some work to do before bed," 

"Workaholic?" The smaller asks with a smile. "I can relate. Besides, it's hard to sleep when you're thinking about stuff," 

His last statement runs away with him, dissipates into fog that hangs insidiously around the room. The tension shoots from 0-100 in 0 seconds and Kaiba all but collapses into his chair. It's an opportunity for Yami to observe the room. Absolutely everything is dragon themed from the wallpaper to the alarm clock. And he's drowned in blue. Everything is blue or white but mostly blue. It's like he just walked into a 9 year old boy's bedroom, one who just discovered Duel Monsters! Kaiba coughs to get his attention. "Why were you on the bridge?" He asks bluntly. 

"Why were you?" Yami retorts. 

"I asked you first," 

"I asked you second," 

"Well you have to answer first," 

"Why?" 

"Because I was so kind as to lend you my old bedroom and pyjamas," Kaiba reminds. 

"That was your room?!" 

"Yeah, so?" 

"It's a bit... pink," Yami cringes openly. "And empty. And what is with these pyjamas? I feel hugged in all the wrong places!" He tugs at the fabric around his waist, making Kaiba laugh. 

"I'm a skinny little shit, you're too broad for my hand-me-downs," Kaiba laughs, brushing back some of his hair. Each passing second he's slowly gaining confidence, becoming gradually more comfortable in this exciting new situation. "What happens on these things anyway?" 

"These things?" 

"Slumber pa- er...sleepovers?" He scratches his head, baffled at what language to use not only around teenaged boys, but people in general. He doesn't think he's ever actually spoken to another male his age except Zigfried - but he doesn't count, he's too camp. 

"You've never had a friend over?!" Yami can't stop himself blurting that out, even as the phrase Seto doesn't have friends burns through his cerebellum. "I mean, I can show you what we do. There's tonnes. Play video games, watch movies, have pillow-" 

And it's now that Yami notices Kaiba's room doesn't have a console, TV or even stereo in it, and there's only one lonely dragon-themed pillow on his depressingly blue bed. "You play Duel Monsters right?" 

"Yes, do you have a deck?" 

"I do," 

"I must warn you, I've very good," a flicker of warning competitiveness flashes dangerously in Kaiba's eyes. "I've never lost a game," 

"Good," his warm smile melts into a smug smirk. "Cause I haven't either,"


	5. Chapter 5

Cards fly from his hand and scatter across the navy carpet. Landing face-up is the legendary dragon he relies on so much, a constant hardened glue forcing the fragmented pieces of his fading sanity together. That glue is cracking, weakening with age. 

Kaiba slumps to the floor, hugging his shivering body in a fit of despair. The incredulity of this game - the fact that he lost, is shocking his brain, forcing him to calculate every angle and strategical move where he went wrong. But Yami didn't seem to even have a strategy. Just pure faith. "How did I... lose...what happened?!" He calls to his own bedroom, expecting comfort from the dragon mural painted on his walls. 

Yami stares in abject confusion at the man seizing and writhing on the floor. "Kaiba!" He calls, placing a hand on the billionaire's shoulder. "Are you okay?!" 

Mokuba bursts into the room. "What's going- oh," he sighs sadly. "You beat Seto didn't you?" 

"I- yes?" 

"He's never lost a game," Mokuba explains. "He hates losing more than anything. He must be in shock!" 

"From...losing a card game?" Yami questions, laughing nervously at the entire situation. Kaiba taking a loss so badly in his perceived immaturity. "That's really worrying, shouldn't we get him some help?"

"You've barely met my brother," Mokuba defends dutifully. "Don't assume you know what's going on in his head," 

Kaiba lays on the floor, breathing rhythmically and heavily to control his stress. He isn't controlling his own breathing but is aware of how ragged and loud it sounds. Regaining himself from such an embarrassing display of weakness, he sits up against his wall. The tightness on his chest makes his head spin slightly, doom slowly losing focus with each passing second. Until Mokuba sits beside him. 

"Hey bro, you okay?" 

His mouth is dry, but he can still speak. "I'm fine," he pushes away his brother, sitting up fully to stare at Yami. He can't help feel a biting hatred at wasn't previously there, replacing the apathy he regards each person by. "I don't lose," he states redundantly. 

"I- well I did just win, Kaiba," 

"I never lose!" He insists, standing and swaying slightly. "I'm gonna go change for bed. You can do what you want," 

"I'll come, Seto," Mokuba decides, following his brother and leaving Yami alone. 

Being alone in Kaiba's room is a creepy experience. The staring eyes of a hundred white dragons following his every move. He wonders why Kaiba is so obsessed, or maybe the billionaire truly is insane and his thoughts aren't worth analysing. But someone so obsessive, who's world shatters after a single loss must have a deeper issue than being neurotic or insane. 

The word Yami looks for escapes him. But he knows exactly what it is.

* 

"How embarrassing," Kaiba scoffs at himself, wincing when he removes his clothes to drape himself in the thin satin pyjamas. He adjusts them looking in the mirror. "I have half the mind to demand a rematch," 

"I don't think so bro," Mokuba laughs. "He's really skilled. He has to be to have defeated you!"

"This is not helping," he drawls, walking back down the corridor and into his own bedroom, staring down at Yami. Kaiba can't read his face, the smaller man keeping everything tight inside his chest. Yami is the strong silent type; something Kaiba aspires to be but can't, and therefore admires in avarice. "So, what now?" 

"What now?" 

"What else do people do on these 'sleepovers' - as this apparently is?"

"Do you have any food?" Yami smiles in good nature. Mokuba appears in the doorway too, in pyjamas, and he seems to have decided to crash their sleepover. "I could kill for something unhealthy right now!" 

Kaiba smirks in his own smug resilience. "I have an unlimited credit card and the Dominos Pizza app," 

"Marry me!" Yami shouts. 

"Fine," the taller man laughs, taking everyone's huge orders. 

They eat pizzas (yes, plural) and binge watch reruns of How I Met Your Mother totally not in chronological order, and the three boys can barely remember the horrific hurricane of hardships that crashed them together that day.


	6. Chapter 6

It's a furious beeping followed by the slow, surreal melody of his ringtone. Yami shoots up, disoriented in the almost morning light. His phone is blazing bright, Yuugi's name on the caller ID. Answering hurriedly, he asks in alarm. "Hello, is everything okay?!" The phone stays silent for a few second, fears of the worst swirling in a nebulous through Yami's spiky head. Eventually his worries are dissipated.

"You got a visitor," Yuugi hisses down the phone. "Some girl. Her name's Tea I think. Is that what you do? Go out with girls while I give an old man a fucking sponge bath?!"

Sighing, Yami hangs his head sleepily. "We'll talk about this when I get home, Yuugi,"

"Whenever that'll be!"

"I'll be back today, I promise," Yami clicks off his phone and throws it angrily at his feet, where it lands on the blanket. Breathing heavily to calm himself down, trepidation freezes him to the spot. He doesn't want to go home - he doesn't even want to move. That depressing building full of old, broken furniture and a little brother who resents him, and an old man who barely remembers him. Looking up finally, he finds himself meeting the pointed gaze of a fully awake Kaiba.

They stare at each other for a few seconds. Yami notes how Kaiba looks exactly the same when he wakes up as he did before going to bed. Brown hair neatly pressed against his head, meticulous and polite. Such a stark contrast to Yami's own, which he takes artistic pride in to create a shock factor. He is he first to look away, clenching his jaw and gritting his teeth in deeply shameful embarrassment. "How much of that did you hear?" He asks, terrified of knowing the answer.

"All of it," Kaiba admits coldly. His voice is so monotone, devoid of emotion or sympathy. Like an automated robot destined for oblivious dismissal of human emotion. "All of it on your end anyway,"

A brief pause between the lost souls, and then. "I think there is something we need to talk about," Kaiba glances at Mokuba, ensuring he's still deep in slumber. "Tell me about Yuugi,"

Yami relaxes his shoulders in relief that Kaiba is easing himself in, rather than jumping to the harder questions. He smiles, and it's real while flashes of fond memories play in his mind. "Yuugi is my younger brother. Mokuba reminds me of him, actually," a chuckled sigh. "He always had so much energy - he's got ADHD and is always moving. He was always so sweet, but now I can only seem to irritate him. Whatever I do just makes him resent me more, when all I want to do is make him smile,"

Yami remembers bittersweetly the winters they'd spend sledding and building snowmen as young children, staring up at the falling snowflakes with wonder and awe. Or playing at the beach, building sandcastles and splashing in the bay ocean. So entranced by the beauty of the world. Then their grandfather got dementia, and the snow became a fall risk. Water became a drowning hazard.

Fun became dangerous.

"He's depressed," Kaiba mentions immediately. "He's taking his shitty life out on you,"

Yami blinks, narrowing his eyes slightly at the older boy. "Yuugi isn't like that! That's not what's going on," he defends, but pulls his body tighter, tensing in a defensive shield. "There must be something else,"

He billionaire scoffs. "How pathetic, you're defending him,"

"Why are you such an asshole all of a sudden?!" Yami demands. "Or are you the one taking shit out on people?!"

"Shut up!" Kaiba hisses. "You'll wake Mokuba!"

But it's too late, as the younger boy sits up in his sleeping bag, rubbing his eyes sleepily past his thick black fringe. "Mmm what's goin' on Seto?"

"He woke you up," Kaiba nods to Yami, crossing his arms over his chest in distaste.

Yami can't help but find it really funny; this grown man wearing blue pyjamas in a blue dragons sleeping bag in a blue dragons bedroom decorated for an eight year old, crossing his arms and pouting like a child.

Easing the tension, Mokuba stands up and stretches, yawning loudly and raising his arms to the sky, letting his sleeves fall down his arms. Yami notes how unlike Kaiba he is, and how he wouldn't be able to tell they're brothers from sight. "I'm gonna make pancakes!" Mokuba announces happily. "Anyone want some?!"

"Yes, thank you," Yami smiles back.

"I'm fine," Kaiba dismisses. Mokuba nods and practically runs out with too much energy for someone who just woke up. He leaves the door wide open to expose the dimly lit hallway. The two men's eyes lock again, and both are lost for what to say, the smile disappearing from Yami's face. Thankfully, or maybe not, their awkwardness is interrupted by Hobson, the Kaiba family butler.

"Master Kaiba?"

The man sighs irritably, not having been awake twenty minutes and already been in his first argument for the day. "What?!" He snaps at the shirt man. Hobson has always creeped him out.

"The investors have arrived to discuss the launch or your latest cybernetic technology," he informs his Master. "I will lead them to the conference room," he hurries out the door, finding Seto Kaiba no less cruel than his stepfather before him.

Kaiba runs a hand through his hair, hissing to himself. "Shit, I'd hoped their flight would get delayed," rolling his eyes. "The one day flying business class actually means arriving business class!"

Yami wonders if he's supposed to know what that means. Kaiba stands up. "I have clothes in the bathroom, I'm going to get ready," he saunters towards his door. "You can stay if you want, or go. I don't really care,"

The well-oiled door swings shut, Yami very suddenly abandoned in the room where a housing dragons stare at him with their black, lifeless eyes. The most present one, the Blue Eyes White Dragon, resembles a shark the way it's round eyes bulge deeply from crevasses of thick black. It's creepy, and makes him shiver.

As much as he's annoyed by Kaiba now, the man still remains an elusive mystery. Enigmatic and charming in a very charismatic way. Yami can't help but wonder what exactly his damage is. As far as he can see, Kaiba's life is great!

Feeling like a sly detective, Yami decides to snoop around. He walks over to Kaiba's dresser, fingers curling around the knobs in a building inner turmoil, clashing between morality and curiosity in his feud to decide what's right. He's about to pull the drawer open when -

"I brought pancakes!"


	7. Chapter 7

Mokuba and Yami share breakfast over a long game of CS-Go, dragged out by Kaiba's absence. "My brother's a workaholic," Mokuba explains casually. "Sometimes he's gone for days,". Yami listens but doesn't really hear. He's in a sad kind of nostalgic state where his mind naturally replaces Mokuba with Yuugi. Playing games, talking like brothers and sharing snacks - normal things normal families do. It's soothing, but reminds Yami how far his own family has drifted apart. 

"It must be difficult," Yami sips his green tea, bitterly knowing that he's doing the same thing to Yuugi that Kaiba is doing to Mokuba. Leaving someone alone too young to understand themselves or anything around them. "Do you miss your brother? I mean, he's not very present when he's here anyway," 

At this, Mokuba's eyes darken. His spiked hair shadows his face, the stark light/dark contrast giving him the appearance of a ghoulish shadow. A vitriolic dark prince. "You don't know my brother," he warns, almost seethes. "Don't go assuming things, you don't know why he's the way he is," 

"So tell me?" 

Mokuba stands up. "I really should be with Seto while he conducting business," he reasons. "Maybe it's time you left,"

"Maybe," 

* 

"Will you be back?" Mokuba asks at the door, throwing Yami off. He was under the impression he's being kicked out of the mansion - is that not what's happening? These brothers are confusing. Apparitions of people who fade in and out of his life, the shells of formerly whole individuals made hollow by a broken past. Yami clicks his teeth in thought. 

"Can I leave my number?" He asks. "Just in case you or Kaiba want to do this again. I had fun!" 

Mokuba smiles, but it doesn't make him any less empty. "Yeah sure," he grabs a pad and pen from the table by the door, letting Yami leave his details. "I'll give it to Seto! Can't make any promises though," and the happy, smiling child is back. Such a strength, Yami thinks, to display optimism despite something clearly fucked up going on. 

"Thanks," he returns the smile. 

"I guess you can let yourself out?" The short child offers. "I gotta be at the meeting. I'll see you around!" 

Yami watches Mokuba disappear down one of the hallways, leaving him alone in this vast mansion. So many shadows bounce around the great hall that leads into each winding passageway. So many temptations, how can Yami resist exploring? They're in a meeting and if Kaiba is as stubborn and confrontational as he thinks, he can be long gone before it's finished. He just wants to get some idea of the reasons why Kaiba was on that bridge. Why he has a gun, why everyone in this house is so secretive and depressing. 

He darts back upstairs and into the corridor opposite Kaiba's bedroom. Heavy wooden doors are lined in carved designs, glossed smooth. The first door he opens leads him to a barely furnished office, home only to a large dark oak desk in front of tall glass windows. One looks newer than the rest, having been broken recently and replaced. Far less care has been taken of the job than the rest of the windows. 

Yami has always been a great game player and he notices the small details in things others, even Kaiba himself, do not. Like the fact the decor in this room is nothing Kaiba would use, all those maroons and dark woods and old Victorian adornments. Kaiba is a minimalist and a neat freak, and doesn't care for the arts in any respect. No, this room has never belonged to him. 

On the desk is a framed picture, and Yami picks it up, dusting it off. The picture is of a child, seemingly a girl, holding a football. Her hair is brown, her skin pale and her clothing demonstrative of a wealthy, smartly- dressed boy. Yami inspects the face for what it is, in greater detail. Brown hair with that familiar flicking fringe, the eyes a distinctive dark blue that moves and dances like ocean waves. Sharp jawline, mouth in a small and sensible smile. 

Yami's hands begin to tremble. This girl is Seto Kaiba. 

"I knew not to trust you," comes Mokuba's high but accusatory voice from the doorway.


	8. Chapter 8

Kaiba steps into the doorway. His tall, shadowy figure darkens the room to a fading black turtleneck. His steely eyes flicker to the security camera that nestled on the curtain rod, hidden from view behind bunches of fabric. "Fuck," Yami hisses, but isn't sure why. Because he got caught or because this tall, broad, deep-voiced man with a jawline sharp as a knife blade was once a little girl in a yellow uniform, playing soccer with a ponytail. "Kaiba, I..." 

"You have five seconds to get out before you're explaining this little trespassing incident to the cops," he holds up a long, pale hand level to his eyes. "One," 

"Please let me explain!" Yami insists. "I was confused, you kept acting secretive and this house is so weird and-" 

"Two," 

"I had questions! I still...have questions!" 

"Three!" 

"Alright!" Yami sighs through gritted teeth. He steps forward, pushing past the brothers and into the dim corridor that's too maroon to match Kaiba's taste in decor. "I'm going,"

They watch him leave, until Kaiba frowns slightly. "You get one question," 

Yami spins. "Really?" 

"One question, and I don't need to answer it," he offers, clenching his jaw and pulling his folded arms in tight. 

Yami doesn't hesitate. While there are a million questions circling his head, there's only one he's willing (or able, really) to articulate. "Can I see you again?" 

Kaiba raises an eyebrow and Yami elaborates. 

"For coffee, or something. Or here again or my place," he shrugs. "I just... despite everything. Despite barely knowing you, I like you, Seto Kaiba," 

A pause. Silence without reaction. 

"So, can we?" 

He thinks, but surely must be mistaken, that he sees the faintest hint of a smile behind the long brown bangs. "I can't very well defeat you in a duel unless we do, can I?" 

Yami smiles, kind eyes locking into Kaiba's before he hears the taller man start his counting again, at 'Four' and he runs down the mansion stairs in retreat. 

*

The first he sees are the flashing blue lights that peak above the tree on the corner. The lights of a resting ambulance parked ominously at the Kame Game Store, illuminating the flicking paint of the sign. Yami rushes over just in time to see his grandfather wearing an oxygen mask, eyes so much like his own rolling in delusion. 

"Grandpa!" Yami yells, rushing to his side and gripping the bars of the trolley. The paramedics stand over him, his resemblance to the patient making the 'are you family?' question redundant. "What happened?" 

"He's having chest pains," is all they tell him. "Your brother's in the ambulance already," 

He's bundled through and sits on a bench as the ambulance speeds to the hospital, shaking them around. 

Yuugi looks so small waiting in angst in the corner of the ambulance, still dressed in baby blue pyjamas adorned with white stars, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Yami?" He asks, falling in and out of sleep brought by exhaustion and shock.  

"I'm so sorry Yuugi!" He holds his brother close, so close he can smell the warmth of his breath. "I should have been here I should have..." 

"Mmmm, it's not your fault..." Yuugi leans into him, mumbling incoherently as his droopy head lies on Yami's shoulder. Sensing his brother falling asleep, Yami keeps a hold of him, petting gently through his hair, keeping him steady so the rocky terrain of city streets doesn't jostle him awake.

* 

28 Hours Later 

They stand in front of the hospital, five feet apart but it feels like miles. Dressed in thick coats and suitcases hastily packed when they heard the final verdict. Yami breathes, and it floats around the air. White, translucent smoke disappearing into the sky. 

"Who are these people anyway?" Yuugi asks, eyes raw from crying but voice devoid of emotion. Yami had just told him to pack, that they'd be staying with someone he knows. 

"Trust me," Yami says, barely knowing what he's saying. Feeling it's all he can say, because what else is there to say when one is so lost in the nihilistic abyss? "It's for the best,"

The black limo rolls up and Mokuba is the first to climb out, but staying half-immersed in the backseat. "Hey," he shrugs in sympathy. The chauffeur walks up, taking their cases and packing them into the trunk. "You can stay with us as long as you want," 

"Come, Yuugi," Yami walks around the back to the other door. Yuugi goes into Mokuba's side, staring at the black visor separating them from the front. 

"I've never ridden a limo before,"


	9. Chapter 9 - Homely

The Kaiba mansion has lost its charm to Yami. It used to be a flourishing utopia of beauty, now a dark and lonely tower too big for so few people. He sets his bag down in the room he was meant to stay in the night before, where he had showered. So many things make sense now and he connects he dots in his head: this must be Kaiba's old room. The pink gown with the initials. Everything he was too blind to see. 

After Mokuba took Yuugi to one of the many guest room, Kaiba had cornered him at the grand entrance when he first arrived, pushing him lightly against the wall. "You know what this means, right?" He had asked. 

"Wh-What it means?" 

"You're all your brother has," he stated plainly, in a dark voice more serious than his normal one. "Don't let him down," 

Speaking of Yuugi, Yami snaps from his trance by a small knock on the doorframe. 

"C-Can I stay with you tonight?" Yuugi asks from the door, holding his backpack swung over his shoulder. Tears pool in the bottom of his eyes and Yam is its up halfway. 

"Of course!" Yuugi dumps his stuff at the doorway and throws himself onto the bed, burying into the soft material of Yami's black tank top. "Hush, it'll be alright Yuugi," 

But he's questioning himself on that. 

* 

Seto Kaiba sits in his office on the top floor, a spade entirely converted to his business quarters. His office overlooks the small testing facility he had renovated last year. "Hologram Projection prototype 1, test 1," he reads aloud into his earpiece and the words appear onscreen. It's a technology he invented. He presses 'ENTER' and a hologram of himself appears in the centre of the facility, fully dressed in his trench coat. "Walk forward," 

And it does. 

"Lift right arm," 

And it does. 

Kaiba types, actually types this time 'Responsive to voice commands in real time'. And leans back, satisfied with himself. 

"Big sis, it's one in the morning!" 

Kaiba snaps his head to the side. Mokuba has climbed into his office pod. 

"Uh, sorry, big brother. What are you doing up here this late?" 

Kaiba clasps his hands, resting his elbows on the bench and threading his fingers together. He uses them to support his long chin. "Do you know what it is to be outed like that?" He asks his brother. "To have him find out at all let alone... I should burn this mansion to the ground. Gone with Gozaburo, with that kid. Erase all trace of that ghost," 

"Hey," Mokuba frowns. "Like it or not that ghost was you! What happened to you Seto?! You used to be nice!" 

Kaiba sighs, looking at his brother dead in the eyes as his face softens slightly. "I just wanted to be a good brother to you," he relays. "Give you a better life. Instead, I ruined both of us," 

"You didn't ruin anything Seto," the child laughs. "Can you imagine being stuck in that orphanage? And look t all your cool inventions! Plus, what would I do all day if I didn't have my consoles?" 

"Attend school?" 

"Exactly!" He laughs. "You're a great brother!" 

"Thanks," he shrugs. "I hope Yami's being just as good a brother to Yuugi. I know exactly how these things go," 

* 

Yami runs his fingers through Yuugi's hair thick with gel, feeling it flow through his fingers and soothe the younger. At some point, he doesn't remember when or how, they had put pyjamas on. Have the tears stopped yet? 

His fingers massage Yuugi's scalp to keep him relaxed enough to sleep. He checks and sure enough he's no longer crying - the tears have dried into a raw sheen coating his skin red with rubbing his eyes. Yami smiles. His beautiful younger brother with alabaster skin and features younger than his years. Innocent, yet weary and wise. The face of a child, the heart and experience of an adult. "Please be okay," he whispers to the fresh air of the bedroom that smells a little like pine but doesn't reassure him of anything. He kisses Yuugi's cheek and shifts away from him in the bed, turning away to curl up. 

Staring at the darkness they've long adjusted to, his eyes fill with tears even he barely notices.


	10. Chapter 10 - Asking Him Out

The next morning Yami wakes to find Yuugi nowhere to be seen. He throws on a dressing gown - Kaiba's old one, the silken pink one - and pads down the corridor in Kaiba's old slippers. Shouts of triumph and disappointment sound from the end room, and he looks in to see Yuugi and Mokuba sitting on the floor playing his PS4. 

"G-Good morning," Yami stammers, watching the transformation of Yuugi from last night. He had seemed so distraught and now...? 

But then, he realises that's to be expected. Because of Grandpa's illness and his own absence Yuugi's life was confined to the isolation of lonely video games. Yuugi's entire world had become their apartment, all his interaction with a sick old man or a brother he resented. 

Of course having a friend would make him forget his troubles for a while. 

"Morning," Yuugi replies, not taking his eyes off the screen. "We've been up for a while - I reckon we can finish Red Dead II today!" 

"No way!" Retorts Mokuba. "This is a long play game," 

Yami slinks off without another word, oblivious to the world of video games his brother is so invested in. He wanders downstairs, tensing up as he still feels a stranger in this home. A creepy trespasser rather than invited guest. The manor's cold, barren floor plans and out-of-the-way darkened corridors contribute to that. This place has a real American-Horror-Story vibe. 

The tall, mysterious man with the collarbones brewing black coffee in the kitchen doesn't help alleviate that image. "Good morning," Yami greets stiffy, realising he's controlling his own breathing in case Kaiba doesn't like the frequency he inhales at. 

Plus, Kaiba always seems in control of himself and that includes his breathing. 

"Don't bother me Yami, I have important business to attend to," he brushes off, picking up the newspaper and scouring the crossword. "1 across is intrigue, 2 down is cretin, 3 up is accorded, 4 down is crescent," he sounds aloud to himself. 

"I just wanted to thank you for letting us stay, Kaiba," Yami rubs the back of his head, awkwardly scratching through his short hair. "It means a lot, especially after yesterday..." 

"I know," Kaiba nods curtly. "Anyway, my chauffeur is going shopping tonight, we're low on food. You'll need to get your own," 

Yami gasps. "That's it!"

This is the first ting that's made Kaiba look up from his paper the entire conversation. "That's what?" 

"I have cash. I can take you out to eat somewhere, to make up for everything!" 

"I doubt your idea of a restaurant comes close to mine," 

"That's the beauty of it," Yami laughs. "Do you ever just let yourself go and eat for taste instead of status?" 

"I don't really eat in general," Kaiba shrugs. "I have more important things to do," 

"You're going to sit in your office and do the sudoku puzzles for the rest of the day nd you know it," Yami contradicts. Kaiba narrows his eyes. 

"Have you been talking to Mokuba?" 

"Maybe, now I'm taking you for a date and there's nothing you can do about it. Got it?" 

Kaiba dumps his coffee in the sink. "Fine," he strides to the door. "If Mokuba asks, I've gone to my personal stylist and tailor,"

"You don't have to dress up like that!" Yami assures. "It's just a restaurant!" 

"But I want to dress up so I can look down on all the peasants," Kaiba smiles and winks as he pulls his body from the doorframe. "I'll see you in a few hours,"

* 

"This is all fucking wrong!" 

Kaiba screams at his tailor, dressed in nothing but his binder and a pair of black Pokemon boxers. His tailor has been around since Gozaburo's reign and the only reason Kaiba hasn't fired him is because he's the only one who will make a garment to his exact specifications and body type - the only one who understands he has to make wide on the chest and fitted around the back. "I said smart but subtle so I can blend in. This is none of those things!" 

The tailor had offered a long dark purple coat with wide golden buttons with a circumference larger than his own fist. Kaiba snorts, looking around the shop, his hopes of finding something suitable diminishing quickly. He point to something hidden on the end of the rack. 

"What about that?" 

"That?!" The tailor asks incredulously. Kaiba has always been one for individuality and extravagance. Demanding the loudest, most obnoxious outfit in existence, preferably something that alters his anatomy to make him look powerful, like a dragon. 

What he's pointed out is a plain white suit with a powder blue shirt and navy tie. It's absolutely not his style, but the tailor must admit not only would it look damn good on the man - it also fits his colour scheme while remaining 'subtle'. He doesn't know why he didn't think of it before. "Good choice, sir," 

"One more thing," Kaiba adds, his frown breaking into a wide grin. "Can you fit the shoulders to accept a body harness?"


	11. Chapter 11: The Date

"You're going on a date?!" Yuugi gasps in shock. 

"With my big brother??" Mokuba almost faints. 

"Is it really that surprising?" Yami chuckles fondly at the two. Both are young adults but both look and act so much like children he finds it adorable. 

"What're you gonna wear?" Yuugi inquires, knowing his older brother's particular taste in fashion. Yami decides on something casual; grey slacks and a black shirt, over which he wears a grey waistcoat. He adds his personal touches of jewellery - bracelets, earrings and his favourite golden necklace, given to him as a present by his grandfather. Tonight isn't the time for his attraction to leather clothes. 

He squeezes the golden necklace, feeling the melancholic  nostalgia bring a tear of his eye - Grandpa gave this to him, his treasured posession. When he lets go it jingles on its chain, settling into its place on his chest. "Right," he nods in affirmation to his reflection in the mirror, applying black eyeliner in an Egyptian style swoop. "Let's go on a date with Seto Kaiba,"

* 

Yami stands outside the somewhat classy but still relatively cheap Japanese restaurant, Ichiban, waiting for Kaiba's limo. However, his attention is grabbed by a white helicopter that hovers overhead. From it drops Seto Kaiba - wearing a fucking jet pack! With the grace of an angel he lands smoothly, pixie feet gracing the surface of the street to the awe of onlookers. He unhooks his jetpack and folds the wings down into a backpack. He spots Yami in the awestruck gathered crowd. 

"I know how to make an entrance don't I?" 

Yami struggles to find the words. "Why?! Just...why?! What part of that was necessary?!" 

"None of it," Kaiba admits with a smile. "I just enjoyed it," he extends his arm. "Shall we?" 

Yami shakes his head but takes the billionaire's arm. "I'll never understand you," they walk into the restaurant together. 

Yami orders a chicken Katsu curry and Kaiba a simple vegetable kushiyaki starter - with a pot of tea to share and a promise to get matcha ice cream (Kaiba's favourite) for desert. As they wait in the secluded booth under the fluorescent lamp, Yami really takes the time to study Kaiba's handsome face. 

The jawline sharper than a knife, harsh angular cheekbones than pull down into a full mouth all linked together by those intense eyes staring into his soul, even if they aren't meant to be. "So," Kaiba begins, swirling the small spoon around his teacup. "Why'd you invite me on a date?" 

"Why'd you accept?" 

"Touché," 

Falling into a comfortable silence, neither meets the other's eyes. They watch the headlines run across the bright red strip of news on the muted television mounted on the wall. Finally their food comes, snapping both men from their daydream. "I have always been weirded out by the use of grilled vegetables on skewers with Japanese sauce, but it works," Kaiba evaluates. 

"Have we become an old married couple already?" Yami jokes. "Nothing to talk about but the food," 

"You want a conversation topic? Fine," The lights seem to have dimmed, giving Kaiba that same dangerous glow as when Yami found him with the gun. "What do you really think of me?" 

Yami sighs, staring into the mirror mounted on the wall behind Kaiba, the paradox of himself fading into a portrait of his grandfather. "Honestly, I don't know enough about you. You're like an enigma. Something I can see but can quite grasp. A particle or a river, or something. I see the big picture but don't know enough details to understand you," 

Kaiba smiles. "That's something I'd say," he admits. "Okay. Ask me anything. I'm an open book," 

"What... happened to you?" Yami whispers in a hushed voice, as of discussing something classified or illicit.

"You're gonna have to be more specific," 

"What made you this way?" Yami prompts. "What... what broke you? What turned that little boy with the soccer ball and the smile into you?" he knows what Yami is referring to, what exactly took away his smile and replaced it with permanently resting bitchface. 

And Seto Kaiba launches into his monologue. 

* 

Setsuko watched the caskets rise away on the horse drawn carriage ready for cremation. They had insisted on being buried, a Catholic family with respect for the dead. But his greedy relatives weren't spending money on gravestones or a plot. Even if that money was rightfully his, his inheritance they pissed away on extravagant parties. 

And of course nobody wanted to look after the little brats. 

On their first day in the orphanage, Setsuko held his brother's hand. He said "It's just us now. We need to be strong. We need to survive no matter what!" 

He stopped played sports. He buried his head in books and spent hours mastering the game of chess, scribbling strategies and pinning them to his bedroom walls. Setsuko fiercely protected his brother who was picked on harshly. 

The bullies targeted Mokuba for his weakness and underestimated Setsuko because of his stature. All the more satisfying when they linked away with broken noses and Setsuko wiped the tears from his brother's eyes. 

One day there was a visitor to the orphanage. Someone Setsuko had been studying closely for months, knew all about his wealth and power and his arrogance. A gambling man, Gozaburo Kaiba accepted the challenge of a chess game against a puny little child, a snot nosed brat he couldn't possibly lose against. 

Only he did. 

Forced to honour his bet, the businessman resentfully adopted the two children and gave them the name Kaiba. 

At the age of twelve, Setsuko was forced into Gozaburo's script study plan. Anything recreational was taken from him and burned. He was ripped from his brother, isolated in a torture chamber and beaten by sadistic tutors for misquoting Shakespeare or miscalculating the quadratic equation. A collar was locked around his neck sending punishing electric shocks into his core for any small mistake. He was conditioned to be a cold, psychopathic businessman. A mirror of Gozaburo himself.

One day Gozaburo set a challenge for Setsuko. He gave him a gun and took him into the woods under the guise of a simple hunting trip to encourage bonding. Instead stood Lector grasping a bunny rabbit in his large hands, one that was squealing and squirming for release, snapping and biting the air, biting nothing in panic. Setsuko was given a gun and told to shoot. He did. He still remembers the blood caked across his own clothes. 

What could he do, deny Gozaburo? 

Maybe he would have, if he'd known Mokuba was being forced to watch from behind a tree. 

On top of that, as puberty began occurring Setsuko felt a strong disconnect from what he saw in the mirror. His brain formulated some image not reflected in whatever he saw when he looked at himself. His brain whirling with confusion and self hatred. 

Setsuko starved himself. He provoked Gozaburo on purpose to slap and beat him. He hissed at Mokuba, ignored the child and immersed himself in his studies; his only distraction from the war of dysphoria raging inside him. 

Slowly, before his thirteenth birthday, Setsuko became Seto Kaiba. He chose the name that sounded harsh and powerful, something that fit his image of himself.

On that birthday he was presented with a challenge. Turn ten million dollars into a hundred million dollars in a year. Seto did it in a day. 

That surge of power, impressing Gozaburo that one time felt so beautiful. A rush of adrenaline shooting through his veins left to squirm in frustration as his stepfather refused to recognise his talents. Brushes off his achievements as something trivial. Was that jealousy he saw in the old man's eyes? 

Gozaburo became ever colder to him and his brother. Scolding became slaps, slaps became punches and punches became a broken arm and rush to the hospital, lying in an ambulance as his blue eyes rolled to the back of his head in agony. 

The hospital spoke to him - standard evaluation - asked him why he kept his hair short and his chest was marked with scars and deep wounds from tape cutting through his skin. He was sent to a GIC and diagnosed. With Gozaburo's influence he was started on puberty blockers and 125 milligrams of testosterone. Seto had originally been terrified of telling his stepfather, but Gozaburo was delighted he was trans. He'd always wanted a son to continue his empire and finally he had one. Mokuba would have been useless of course. 

Seto was locked away again, in the steel cell of isolation. Allowed no access to the outside world. No friends. No brother for company. Just lessons stretching four, five hours past midnight, draining the energy from his mind and body. Shocks sent through him just to keep him awake. 

The only interaction he had was with the board of Kaiba Corp. and with his wit and talent for manipulation, Seto the mentalist hatched a plan. 

They bought 49% shares of Kaiba Corp. and with this new power the team led by Seto confronted Gozaburo in his office. The tyrant flaunted his power but just as he was about to call security, Seto's dejected brother Mokuba bursts in to save them. The child he was so bitter to, who he slapped and pushed and berated, saved him. 51% of Kaiba Corp. made them majority shareholders and with that, Gozaburo was defeated. 

What was left for the old man to do but kill himself? Rather than suffer such a humiliating downfall he fell another way - forty storeys to his death. 

Or that's what the masses believe. But the police found Seto Kaiba's DNA on his jacket, his corpse positioned on the ground not like a man who jumped, but a man who'd been pushed. 

* 

Kaiba folds his hands together on the table, trying to analyse Yami's reaction from his shocked face. For once, the inner thoughts and feelings of another human escape him. 

"What are you thinking?" He asks lowly. But Yami just sobs in despair, standing up quickly and throwing down a note, hurrying for the doorway as his sleeve wipes away his tears. 

From the table Kaiba watches him run into the darkened city street and with an utters curse, the billionaire chases after him.


	12. Chapter 12: Recent Past

Kaiba rushes from the restaurant to find Yami doubled down in the corner of the dark street, barely lit by a stray street lamp as he hyperventilates against the wall, lost in the throes of a panic attack. Tentatively, he reaches out and rubs Yami's back, relaxing his hand when the smaller man doesn't flinch. Eventually panic dwindles to alarm, the only reminder as Yami relaxes the still pounding heart in his chest feeling disassociated with his head. "Are you alright?" Kaiba asks, his voice still devoid of sympathy. Monotone, for he doesn't even know how he feels about this. 

Yami gulps down a thick breath of air. "Yeah...I just..." he breathes out a long breath, staring up into Kaiba's eyes. "That was fucking intense," 

He starts to sob, hard ones that wrack his body. "I'm just so...so sorry that happened to you!" 

"Calm down," Kaiba stiffens, feeling a wave of humiliation wash over him as onlookers stare, their eyes burning into the back of his neck. "Come, let's go for a walk," 

More of a wander than a walk. Yami and Kaiba traipse around the city, aimlessly window shopping for their brothers and laughing at general mishaps typical of city street life. They sit in Domino Square under the clock tower that ticks melodically and just watch life pass by. A lone skateboarder failing a trick and pretending she didn't, shuffling away in embarrassment and hoping nobody saw. A couple sharing an ice cream and one spilling it over the other. Taxi drivers feuding over one customer when ten await in the queue. 

Eventually they return to their familiar area, too distracted in the foreign connection to another human they've missed for so long to realise where they are. Until they reach the mouth of the bridge. 

"Fuck..." Yami whispers, both men rigidly standing there, staring along its informing geometric throat. "What do we do?" 

Neither had walked to the restaurant and the bridge is their shortcut home. 

"I can call my driver," Kaiba offers, arms shaking across his chest. 

"Let's just..." another heavy sigh. "Let's just cross," 

"Are you sure," 

Boldly he holds out his hand. "Come on Kaiba. It's a challenge,"

Tentatively he steps into the bridge and rather than a flurry of traumas and flashbacks Kaiba just feels peaceful. Like the gentle breeze swaying his jacket tails carries along his mind. So calm, for once he feels like a person instead of corpse. These incarnated feelings make him reach out, lightly squeezing Yami's hand and letting their interlocked fingers hang between them as they walk along the bridge. 

"The stars are beautiful tonight," Yami comments loosely, like he isn't thinking about what he's saying. Just spouting whatever comes to mind, so genuinely without any modifications. The truest indicator of comfort. 

"Wanna stop and look?" 

They do. In the middle of the bridge at the railing they stop, Yami leaning over and watching the water pass below them. He smiles, admiring its powerful beauty and thankful he isn't buried in a grave of waves. Then he looks up at the stars, each one smiling down at him, speaking to him. A one-on-one conversation with burning balls of energy millennia dead. 

Kaiba isn't watching the stars. He's watching Yami. The way the short man flicks that one blonde lock of hair longer than the rest smoothly between his fingers. How his small smile stretches across his face and makes his eyes shimmer like precious jewels. His long hand with trimmed fingernails which his jaw rests on framed in aesthetic shadow. He wants to kiss him. 

I want to kiss him, he thinks to himself. 

But he doesn't. Instead he takes Yami's hand, rubbing his wrist with his thumb, caressing his skin lovingly. He's about to suggest they keep walking. 

"Do you want to get a hotel tonight?" Yami asks, awkwardly shifting the weight of his feet. Knowing the answer is most definitely no. 

"Yes," Kaiba decides. "I have money," 

What the Hell am I doing?! he wonders to himself. 

"Great," Fuck he said yes! "I want you to know how special you are to me Kaiba. I don't know why you are... why I'm so...you're just so captivating. Is that weird?" 

"Yeah," Kaiba admits. "But I'm weirder, so you never have to worry. I reach new levels," 

"So...?" 

"Let's go," Kaiba tugs Yami along. "I can get reservations at the Ritz' honeymoon suite,"


	13. Chapter 12.5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just filler. No plot, you may skip.

"Damn, Seto really likes your brother!" Mokuba exclaims when Yami leaves for his date, Kaiba fled to (he presumes) the tailor. He frowns when Yuugi doesn't answer and his playing ability goes right down. He looks at Yuugi, staring autonomously at the screen and furiously button-mashing his controller. "Hey, this isn't DC Universe," 

He tried to joke, but Yuugi barely hears. The only indication he's even listening is the small, sad frown that appears below his eyes. 

"Hey, you okay?" Mokuba reaches out and gently read his hand on Yuugi's leg, snapping the older boy from his trance. 

"Huh?" 

Mokuba chuckles. "Thought I'd lost you there," 

"Sorry," Yuugi shakes his head, pausing the game and putting down his controller. In his pastel turquoise pyjamas he crosses his legs, staring kind of in all directions, but also kind of nowhere. "Guess I'm just preoccupied. Haha, wanna actually play DC? I have a talent for that," 

Mokuba drops the joking act, letting his smile slip to a frown as well, narrowing his eyes slightly. "I'm a good listener," he states ominously, letting that hang in the air to make Yuugi talk. 

"I dunno...I feel like I've been unfair to Yami. I mean, I don't know what's going on in his head," He contemplates. "It's just - since Gramps... I haven't seen him cry or anything since the frost night. It's like he just totally doesn't care! And I know people process things differently but I'm his brother! I deserve to know why he's thinking!" 

"You'd think so," the smile is back. Mokuba pulls out a small necklace from underneath his shirt, the pendant a Duel Monsters card. He holds the outside firmly. "When our parents died, Seto didn't show any emotion. You shoulda seen him at the funeral, just scowling like he always was. I was so confused!" 

"And what happened?" 

"Nothing!" Mokuba insists. "He never ever told me how he felt. Never really talked about it. Took me a long time to even get the tiniest bit of info out of him - and that was way after that. He told me to be strong, that it's just us now and we can't trust anybody else,"

"Did you...I mean, did you believe him?" 

"No way that wasn't what our parents taught us!" Mokuba defends, as if that's some extreme offence. "But you're right, everyone processes differently I guess," 

Neither finds that very satisfying, sitting in the hanging silence left by an unfinished conversation on an unresolved issue. Unanswered questions bouncing around each of their heads. Unable to focus on video games, Yuugi suggests they play a card game. 

"I don't really play," Mokuba admits. I never had cards of my own so I guess I bypassed the whole 'discovering the game' stage," 

"Really? Gramps taught us how to play as soon as we were old enough!" He states happily, shifting into his knees. Mokuba notices his eyes light up, looking more like Yami's gemstones instead of the dead, empty shells they've been. "Grandpa even gave me his old deck! I loved playing with it, and Yami was so jealous!" 

The life stays in his eyes and the smile on his face when he speaks, the nostalgia filling his head with brief flashes of happy memories, times of triumph and teaching and discovery. When everything seemed okay in their weird, broken little family. But such nostalgia is quickly replaced by a dread, the impending thought that these memories are the last of their kind. An extinct species never to be replicated because things have gone so far downhill. 

In a last-ditch effort to cheer Yuugi up, Mokuba gets an idea. His brother isn't the only inventor of the family. "Hey, you like pretty much all games right?" 

"Whatever I can win," 

"Then follow me!"

Yuugi assumes the extra door on the games room was like, a closet or something? To store old consoles, equipment and whatnot. Instead it leads to a second, slightly smaller room containing a desk, a chair on either side and a small cardboard box in the corner. Across the table is the spread of a game mat, like a chess board. 

"This is my contribution to the Kaiba empire!" Mokuba gloats, seeing Yuugi stars at the board in awe. "Capsule Monsters! It's a board game I invented!" 

Yuugi sits down, totally cheered up now he's found out about this. How d'you play?" 

Mokuba sits across the table from him and grabs the box, dumping out the pieces. "Since you're new we'll play the Basic Game. There are monsters inside little capsules that range from level 1-5. They each have special movement ranges and attack's printed on the capsules," 

Yuugi nods; he's following along. 

"Each player starts with 5 capsule monsters picked at random," He shakes the box and holds it out to Yuugi who picks out 5 and reads their info. "You look at your monsters and place them on the board where would be best - like I got a rock type so I put him in the mountains," 

Yuugi places his two water monsters on the sea and his spell-caster in the forest.  

They play and Mokuba wins, as predicted. 

"Awesome isn't it?!" Mokuba smiles. "I'm working with Seto to get a video game made of it once it's more popular. We're selling tonnes from change machines in Japan!" 

"Mmm I dunno," Yuugi inspects the capsules. "Pegasus has the gaming world dominated by Duel Monsters. I know a guy who tried to make his own original game, Dungeon Dice Monsters, ended up failing his game store and he sold the game to Pegasus, who just monopolised it!" 

Mokuba blinks. 

"What?" 

"It's just," he laughs. "You're a lot smarter than I thought," 

Yuugi blushes. "Another round?" He holds up his capsule. "I never lose twice in a row!" 

"I'll take that bet!"


	14. Chapter 13: The Hotel

Kaiba smooth-talks his way into booking the empty honeymoon suite on the top floor of a five-star Domino hotel. Grand and opulent with its luxurious chandelier and balcony overlooking all of Domino City, the vast expanse of grandeur is just as exciting to Yami as it was the day he stepped into Kaiba's mansion. He feels like a child in Disneyland. "Wow..." he whispers, staring around in awe. "This is amazing!" 

"Wait until you see the bathroom," Kaiba chuckles in a way he usually only does with Mokuba, hanging up his jacket. "I requested one with a bath which if you don't mind, I'll be putting to use," 

Yami lounges on a comfortable armchair rested in front of the large plasma TV, grabbing the remote before he realises there's a minibar and attack's that instead. "I'll watch something while you are," 

"You could always join me," Kaiba smiles. Yami flushes red with horror, backing away with his feet shuffling off the carpet. Ice buried into his chest, stopping his head in frozen shock. "Wh-What do you-?!" 

"Not like that!" Kaiba laughs. At least his mouth does, but his eyes still seem stern and distant. Yami faints with relief, exhaling deeply as the horrific presupposition passes. "You can read me some news stories while I bathe. I do need to keep up to date with current corporate affairs," 

"Do you ever stop working?" Yami shakes his head I'm amused disapproval. Seto Kaiba the workaholic. "Fine," 

"Great. I'll need some time to prepare," and his stare grows intense, the man's tall frame leaning down over Yami, glaring fiercely at him and forcing him to gulp fearfully. "Do not, under any circumstances, open that door before I say so,"

When Yami gets the all-clear call from Kaiba and opens the door, he can't hide his amused smile. The bathroom is long and modern, minuscule in its decor with the white sink and expensive tiny bath soaps and toiletries. Kaiba lies in the bath submerged almost entirely in bubbles, everything covered except his neck up and feet - he's too tall for the bath and his feet poke out the top. "Sit," he instructs, gesturing to the little stool beside him. 

Steam rises from the bath and for the first time, Kaiba looks truly relaxed. Like he could almost be sleeping, a sly but instinctive smile of his face and his eyes closed, letting his entire essence melt into the warm water that embraces him in her hug. "Well, anything interesting?" 

Yami reads out some recent headlines from Brexit to the US Congress to Japanese politics. "Stop, read me that one," 

Something very Japanese about the stock exchange and discrepancies between prices. A German corporate official conducting international business ciphering his taxes through Japan. "I met his son once..." Kaiba almost laments, like he's talking to himself and not filtering for Yami, just venting his thoughts. "Zigfried I think was his name. Little pansy - I beat him up at a fancy dinner," 

Yami laughs at the thought of preteen Kaiba with his little pigtails kicking the shit out of some snotty kid. 

When the bubbles begin to go down and Kaiba snaps from his trance, barking to Yami to leave, the man strips down to his boxers and slinks into the Queen bed, burying himself comfortably under the warm covers. They reminds him of an Egyptian cotton, a blend rough to touch but hugging and warm. Smooth to the skin and heavy. Like being chained to your bed by spider silk. 

Kaiba comes out wearing his suit again, the suit that damply hangs from his body with the top two buttons undone, shirt untucked and barefoot. Yami guesses this is as naked as Kaiba is willing to get, but really it fits the bill. Casual dress to such a sharply fashion- oriented person must seem synonymous with treason. "You okay sharing?" Yami asks. 

He asks this more to himself, because even he doesn't know he answer to that. In theory, sharing with Kaiba is a great idea. In practice, the fact he just shared a bath with this man and will now be entangled under the sheets makes his body feel hot, his apprehensive mind forcing itself to delete fantasies he guiltily wishes were real. 

"Fine, but I'm big spoon," 

At first Kaiba's jeans brush uncomfortably against the skin of his butt, struggling to get comfortable wedged against the metal button and scratchy fabric but eventually he settles, and it just feels like Kaiba. 

The tall man wraps his arms around Yami's shoulders, pulling him in closely and resting his head in the make of his neck. Perfectly fitting together like a lock and key - made for each other and to exist just like this. Physically engined forever. 

In his alert state Kaiba will forever deny this happened, but as he drifts into sleep and rests on his partner for exhaustion he places an innocent, chaste kiss on Yami's forehead, giggling as the spiky dyed hair tickles his nose.


	15. Chapter 14: KaibaLand

"What are you all doing?!" Kaiba demands form the doorway where he stands tall, crossing his arms. Mokuba, Yami and Yūgi are in his bedroom wearing blindfolds and carrying plastic swords; merchandise from one of KaibaCorps video games. "You know what - I don't even want to know," he scoffs. 

"Don't be so serious, Seto," Yami smiles, having earned the privilege of calling Kaiba 'Seto' after their night in the hotel. A privilege until now only afforded to Mokuba. "We're just playing," 

"Well I'm late for a meeting," he huffs. "I'll be back for dinner," 

"Bye Seto," 

"Bye big brother!" 

"What meeting does Kaiba have?" Yūgi asks, removing his blindfold and putting down his sword. "I mean, I know he runs the games company but he rarely ever leaves his office!"

"Oh, it's this," Mokuba runs to Kaiba's special drawers, ones even Yami isn't allowed to open. He goes to the bottom drawer and pulls out a blueprint. He gives it to Yūgi who reads it uncomprehendingly, a mess of stray statistics and doodles from when Kaiba was clearly bored.

 

"Uh... What is 'this'?"

"I'd like to know that too," Yami agrees. 

"Okay, it's the company's big project right now," Mokuba explains enthusiastically. "Seto wants to build a huge theme park, using all the characters and worlds from KaibaCorp's video games. He's calling it KaibaLand; it's like a huge games convention centre!" 

"Woah, that sounds awesome!" Yūgi gasps - always being one for games, mastering them whatever the type. 

"Yeah, but he's having trouble getting it off the ground," Mokuba sighs. "The contractors don't wanna pay for specialist builders to build his structures so he's been super stressed," 

"How didn't I see it," Yami sighs sadly to himself. "I thought he was just being... Kaiba... but there was really something going on. How could I neglect my friend like that," 

There's an extra sadness when he uses the word 'friend'. Something he can't trace or put his finger on. 

"It's not your fault," Mokuba places a supportive hand on Yami's shoulder. "Seto's hard to read. He's always been like that! He deals with his own problems," 

"But he shouldn't have to," 

They still haven't discussed Kaiba's feelings since that night on the bridge. So wrapped up in moving and then his Grandpa... they never got round to it, and Yami grits his teeth in guilted remorse. Very discreetly he grips his inner forearm, digging his fingernails into his skin. To distract himself - or punish himself. Either's good with him. He wonders how Kaiba felt that night, and if he feels any better since. 

* 

"Mr Kaiba - we've drawn up an agreement we're sure you'll be more than happy with," the head of the construction company slides over a single A4 contract. Kaiba skims it quickly before flicking it back across the table in disgust. 

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Kaiba sneers deeply, glaring lightning daggers into the souls of the hollow men across the table. "I told you I wouldn't pay anything over ¥30 million and you try and charge me 45?!" 

"With all due respect-" 

And the man babbles for a while but Kaiba doesn't listen. He knows exactly what's going on and it's a common scam. See, an interested party P1 will make an offer and then either not pay or just ignore the other party, let's say P2 for a while. That leads P2 (Kaiba) to become desperate and allows time for the financial climate to change so by the time P1 resurfaces, they need to accept a different offer - an incredulous one they'd never have even considered before. For example, if a business is worth ¥100 million in January and someone makes an offer of that then doesn't pay until May, that business may only be worth ¥80 million and therefore they need to renegotiate. That's what they're trying to do to Kaiba - but it won't work.

"How can you possibly justify this?!" He demands, his sinister voice carrying through the room like a judge sentences. "You better have a damn good reason!" 

"Well, we have the designs to do-" 

"I did the designs," Kaiba interrupts. "Don't you remember? I designed everything. Next," 

"Working out the dimensions, creating models and drawings-" 

"I did that too because your company missed the deadline!" Kaiba reminds, shouting now and standing up. "What - are you all just too lazy, or are you fucking me around? I'm not going to brush off your mistakes and let this bullshit slide just because you knew my stepfather,"

"Mr Kaiba-" 

"I did it all, everything! All you had to do was build it!" He seethes. "You know what? Fuck off. Contract terminated,"

He tears the paper in half, not listening to the conductor of the symphony of objections and pleas from the contractors. He speed-walks, almost runs from the building, whisking out the door with his long coat trailing behind him, encircling his ankles in its many jagged contortions. 

When he exists the building he sprints, long legs carrying him where he least wanted to be. 

The fucking bridge. The bridge his stepfather built that raised for military ships to pass under like a salute. The bridge he walked along as a child with his little brother on the night their parents died, aglow in ochre from the setting sun. In a single, fluid motion he jams his arms onto the railing, hopping his entire body over the ledge to plunge into the  torrential Japanese waters.


	16. Chapter 15: Sneezing

Mokuba and Yūgi sit opposite one another at the Capsule Monsters table, Yami observing the game as he waits to play the winner. From the door in rushes he Kaiba family butler, trusted by the brothers despite having worked under Gozaburo's command. "Master Mokuba!" He cries. "Your brother wasn't waiting for the car at the scheduled time, so I went to the reception and hey say he ran out the meeting early!" 

"What?!" Mokuba gasps. "Where is he? He isn't here!" 

Yami sits up quickly. "Do you know what happened to him?" 

Mokuba nods. "Seto never leaves his meetings early unless something bad happens," 

"Do you have any idea where he went?" Yami's stomach drops in trepidation when he answers his own question in his head, the realisation hitting him like a bus, just as painfully. "I need to get to-" 

"The bridge," Mokuba nods gravely. "Seto goes there whenever he's upset," 

"What?!" Yami whispers into himself. He sits back onto the floor, staring into the wall and thinking of the night he met Kaiba. His own assumptions clouding what might have been a fleeting low mood. Did he make Kaiba worse? 

"Look Yami, I know how to handle Seto," Mokuba zips up his jacket. "I'm gonna go talk to him. But I gotta hurry!" He grabs the hand of their butler and drags him from the room. 

* 

Seto Kaiba gasps for breath as he feels the water bubble in his lungs, turning over on the cold gravel pavement to cough it up. His chest pulled suffocatingly tight by the water and forcing every breath out like stings of hornets lodged in his throat. When he catches himself, edges of his vision still blurry and body heavy from exhaustion he gazes up at the face of someone he never wanted to see him like this. 

"M-Mokuba..." he hoarsely stutters, pulling onto his knees. His coat has been pulled off him, floating adrift in the river to be carried to sea. Sobbing, Mokuba wraps his arms around Kaiba who feels the tears on his cheek. What the fuck have I done? "I'm so sorry," 

Mokuba had been on his way to the Kame Game store; Yūgi's Grandpa's old place because Yūgi had some things that needed picking up. When from the open window of the limousine he spotted his own brother atop Domino Bridge. Well, he isn't exactly inconspicuous. Mokuba is paralysed from shock, locked in a hug with his older brother. Not really from what Kaiba was doing, but how close it was. How, if he hadn't been a little too warm he'd have kept the blackout window closed and never seen him. How Kaiba was a single innocuous decision away from death. 

"It's okay big bro!" He cries. "I love you and you always protect me - it's my turn to protect you!"

* 

"Seto!" Yami flies downstairs to the main foyer, watching as Seto stumbles in, shivering with water dripping from his flat hair. He's shirtless except wrapped in a thick, long towel at ascends down to his thighs. "Are you okay?! What happened?!" 

"Leave me alone," he mutters, pulling his arms and the towel tight across his chest, arching his back as his shoulders fall forward. "I should have known never to rely on o-" 

He sneezes and his entire body shakes with cold. "We gotta get you into a shower! Does anyone have cold medicine?!" Mokuba demands, leading the way upstairs for the staggering, barely-conscious man. 

"That must have been...a difficult meeting..." Yūgi reflects, just because he doesn't know what else to say. 

"I think he hates me," Yami sighs, slinking down and pulling his knees close to his chest. He rests his head between them, tracing shapes into the carpet with his finger. Yūgi frowns, settling in beside him. 

"You know, Mokuba says only special people can call Kaiba Seto," He begins. "He must really like you then," 

"But Yūgi," he shakes his head. "Why does he act so cold towards me then? If he liked me he'd show it," 

"Does he show it to Mokuba?" 

"Yeah..." Yami nods. "Just not... in the normal way," 

Yūgi can't help but laugh. "Then I think you just answered your own question!" 

"So what do I do?" 

"Talk to Kaiba of course!" He flicks Yami's head. "You're a real idiot sometimes. Once he's better from whatever this is talk to him. Really talk to him! About how you feel," 

"How I feel?"

"Don't pretend it isn't obvious," Yūgi winks. "Now I won Capsule Monsters my default. Let's go play,"


	17. Chapter 16: Consult

Kaiba shivers in his bed wrapped in blankets, the warm cup of green tea nestled between his frozen hands. "F-Fuck..." he stutters, teeth chattering. "I better not get pneumonia. T-The stockholders will crucify me," 

"Stop stressing about KaibaLand!" Mokuba chides. "You gotta rest, bro," 

"N-No, that's not what I need," he ends on that cryptic note. "I'm not waiting any longer for what I need," Kaiba finishes before falling into the depths of his blankets, passing out from exhaustion amidst silk sheets and tea barely saved from spilling everywhere. 

* 

The next day, Yami carries a tray of buttered croissants and breakfast tea upstairs to Kaiba's room. He knocks and is given gruff permission to enter, which he does to find Kaiba lying there with a hot water bottle on his head, a thermometer in his mouth and fluffy slippers on his feet which hang out the covers. "Oh my-" he snickers, placing the tray down. "That is just adorable," 

"D-Don't say a fucking word," the billionaire sniffles. "I'm freezing and boiling at the same time!" 

"Hm, you look so warm and comfy," Yami sighs longingly. 

"Don't you even think about it!" The other glowers. "Stay the fuck away from me. I don't want you getting sick," 

"Who'd have thought you actually have a heart?" Yami chuckles a little, before the unspoken worry between them makes him frown. "What happened yesterday? Apparently your meeting went bad,"

"Don't worry about it," Kaiba shakes is head. "Really. This-" he gestures to his sickly frame. "Is enough of a shock to drive me along. I'm strong; I'll pull through," 

"The pneumonia?" Yami quirks an eyebrow to clarify. 

"Let's go with that," he sips some tea but seems to have transported the croissants to another dimension in his head. Just doesn't acknowledge their existence. "How are you doing anyway? We haven't spoken about your grandpa," 

"I don't wanna bother you with that," 

"Thanks," Kaiba laughs at the crestfallen look on Yami's face. "Just kidding. Tell me, really," 

Yami sits at the side of his bed. Honestly, how is he doing? The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of tragedy and chaos. He feels numb, shocked to the system as if his entire life is something he's watching on a screen. Something he's distant from, and unable to engage with because he can't empathise with himself. "I guess I've been bored. Everything's kind of the same, y'know?" It's true, even though it isn't what he meant. 

"I have an idea," Kaiba decides. "On Monday I have a consult with my private doctor. If I'm feeling better and he gives me the green light, we can go somewhere. Anywhere you want," 

"Is this another date?"

"Yeah," 

"Yeah okay. But promise me something?" Yami narrows his eyes mock-dubiously, glaring at Kaiba in amusement at his worry. 

"Y-Yeah?" 

"No jet pack this time," 

Kaiba glares playfully, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. "You're no fun,"

* 

Monday. 

"So can I go out?" 

"Well, your pneumonia has cleared up, you've recovered dramatically," the doctor smiles. "Just keep taking the antibiotics and check your temperature - remember if you do decide to leave the house not to over exert yourself," 

Seto Kaiba sits, half naked on the cold doctor's table in the chilly clinic. He trusts his private doctor despite (or maybe because) he was the Kaiba physician while Gozaburo remained in power. The doctor doesn't seem to have any facial expressions, which helps Kaiba's dysphoria as he's always dissociated the doctor into a robot or a computer. They're easier to put up with. 

"One more thing," Kaiba decides, making the doctor stop. "I want to start plans for top surgery," 

"Do you know what that entails?" The doctor knows which surgery, waiting for Kaiba to nod before he can proceed. "Well, you're definitely small enough for keyhole. We can have a team ready whenever you need. When were you thinking?" 

"Next week?" Kaiba offers. 

"No way - not so soon after this kind of illness," the doctor dismisses. "Besides, you need to be off testosterone for at least a couple of weeks before we do this," 

"Next month, then. I'll write you a ¥4 million cheque. That should cover renting the hospital room and equipment, right," Kaiba pulls out his chequebook. 

"This is all very sudden," the doctor reminds. "I know you're physically healthy enough, but we won't be able t prepare you properly. Are you sure you're thinking clearly?"

Kaiba tenses, biting back his rage. He hates that. The condescending way people try to control him, assume they know what's best when they don't. They can't. If he wants to make a decision like this he can. And if this doctor won't do it, he can always pay someone else. 

"Have the team and room ready for next month. I'll draw up the contracts and mail them to you. I don't think it's necessary to meet again before the surgery," 

"N-No we need to take measurements and book another consult and-" 

"I'll send you all the information you need," Kaiba steps into his binder and pulls it over his shoulders, hearing the straps snap over his shoulder blades, feeling his breathing suddenly get more difficult. He throws on his button-up shirt and hangs his navy tie around his neck, not bothering to tie it. "I have a more pressing matter to attend to,"


	18. Chapter 17: Day Trip

"Ra why won't they stay up?!" Yami demands into his mirror as he frosts his tips for the fifth time, soaking his hair in gel and hairspray so it hardens like a plastic box around his head. He's made effort for this date, even more than last time; silver cuffs around his wide wrists, golden jewellery dangling prettily from his neck, belts hanging aesthetically around his muscular thighs. Really, it seems even though he and Kaiba have gotten much more comfortable together, he still finds himself forcing effort to impress him. 

He still doesn't feel good enough. 

"Uh, you can stop that y'know," Yūgi laughs. "I'm pretty sure not everyone in the restaurant wants to die from toxic fumes breathing next to your head. You better hope there aren't any sizzler dishes or the place will burn," 

"Sizzlers don't have open flames," Yami chuckles, applying just a thin layer of eyeliner in the mirror to enhance his naturally intense colour. "And anyway, we aren't even going to a restaurant. We're going to a museum," 

"You're getting that dressed up... for a museum?!" Yūgi demands incredulously. "Also, if you're going to museum I should have been invited. You know how interested I am in Egyptology!" 

"Yūgi it's... not the big one in the city. It's the little one here," he sighs, hoping this wouldn't be brought up. 

Their grandfather and his best friend contributed an exhibit there years ago, when both were archaeologists digging in Egypt. They remembered going there as very young children, hearing him tell thrilling tales of their adventures among the pyramids, exploring deep caves and underground tombs untouched for centuries. It made both boys take a keen interest in the country and its history, and gave them amazingly fond memories.

Memories that'll be ruined if they go to that museum together now. That grim plummeting in their stomachs of just utter emptiness. Like feeling nostalgic about a funeral. 

"Besides," Yami quickly changes the subject. "It's not like we're just turning up dressed like royalty. Seto's planned something special," 

"How special?" Yūgi goads. Yami huffs in playful annoyance. 

"Super special awesome," he clarifies. "You know, I thought you've have outgrown finding that phrase funny when you were like nine," 

"Can't beat the classics," 

"That's not a classic!" Yami barks, helplessly time between amusement and frustration. "You just made it up when we were 3!" 

When Yami arrives at the museum Kaiba is waiting dressed business-casual with a little blue pocket handkerchief to 'romance' up the look a little. "Go on then," he smirks. "What's this surprise you have planned," 

"After you, love," Kaiba steps aside and escorts Yami inside, the doors closing behind them. 

Yami first notices the lack of people. Then that four heavy-set middle-Eastern men in turbans are blocking the exit, and they look heavily armed.  "Seto, what is this?" He asks, genuinely a little concerned. 

"I've booked out the museum for us," Kaiba announces with a small smile. "It's all ours for the entire afternoon. And I booked us a private tour too," 

The tour guide steps from the back room, a mild-mannered Egyptian woman dressed in traditional garments and what look like real gold adornments around her head and shoulders. "I heard you were interesting in Egyptology," she smiles at Yami. "I am Ishizu, your tour guide. Please, ask any questions you like and feel free to be yourselves. Shall we begin?" 

Kaiba grins at Yami, who looks around in awe at everything. So absorbed in her lectures on ink hieroglyphics and different ways Egyptians considered the journey into the afterlife - much more complex than the weighing of the heart against a feather. It was dangerous enough for the soul to even reach that judgement. 

Yami took the advice on 'be yourselves' and let himself slip his hand into Kaiba's, running his thumb over the large man's bones and tendons that protrude over his knuckles. They hold hands throughout their walking tour, even swaying their arms lightly to the quiet, tasteful music played distantly on speakers. 

"Gentlemen, you may now explore this section on your own," Ishizu explains with a small smile, sounding genuinely pleased. Kaiba deliberates how great it feels to have a tour guide who isn't only from the place they're actually talking about, but who really seems to enjoy her job. "Just call if you need me, I'll be attending the cleaning of some exhibits," 

They're left alone and while they first stick together, Yami pointing everything out and reading the descriptions to Kaiba, they drift apart, floating around and admiring anything that takes their fancy. 

Kaiba seems something interesting. A large sarcophagus, the final resting place for the mummified bodies of Egyptian pharaohs. Restored of course, but he wonders how the millennia-old gold will feel beneath his fingertips. Looking around, he leans forward and sticks out his finger, running it down the statue. 

"Seto no!" Yami yells, rushing over. "You're not meant meant to-" 

Startled, Kaiba pushes back to let go and the entire thing ripples over, the statue falling with a deep BANG following by clanking as the metal railing surrounding it topple to the floor. Yami looks devastated, Kaiba innocently bottling up his laughter and panic (a normal cocktail of emotions for him) and trying to figure out what to do. Instinctively pretending it wasn't him. 

"Shit!" Yami hisses when they hear Ishizu and the guards rushing through. What do we do?! Do you know how much that's worth?!" 

"Come on!" Kaiba orders, grabbing Yami's hand and dragging him through the long rooms, passing many historical periods on their way. Eventually they slip into a storage cupboard, hearing the footsteps run past them outside. 

Only now does Kaiba exhale a breath of relief. "Holy shit," he whispers to Yami, both men grinning and panting from the chase. "That was..." 

"Awful..." Yami begins. "But-" 

He can't even finish his sentence before suppressing whispered giggles. 

"So what now?" 

"Well," Kaiba begins. "I guess we wait them out and sneak off when they re-open to the public in a couple of hours," 

"A couple of-?! What the hell are we gonna do until then?!" 

Kaiba smirks, gently grinding his body against Yami's, straddling his hips until the smaller man's back lightly hits the wall. "It's cramped," he grins, letting his hands flow down Yami's sides, narrow waist and wider hips. There's nothing sexual in this, at least that's not what either man felt. More like simple intimacy. Love. Agape. 

"Seto?" Yami asks, burrowing himself deeply into Kaiba's chest, curling up his small body between broad shoulders. "Kiss me," barely a whisper, one Kaiba barely hears. 

"I'll kiss you if you give me something in return," Kaiba negotiates. "Yami Mutou, tell me you love me," 

"What?!" He blushes deeply, thankful for the dim light of the storage room. "I can't, I mean..." 

"Hm, then no kiss," Kaiba smirks in his display of unearned, superficial confidence. 

"Love you," Yami begrudgingly admits, glaring past his embarrassment before that fades into worry. "Do you...?" 

"Of course I love you," Kaiba shakes his head. "I love you Yami, you idiot,"

"Then- fucking kiss me!" 

Yami grabs Kaiba's shirt at the front and pulls him forward, their lips crashing together in a fluid burst of complete closeness. 

 

“Yami, you taste like melted gold,” 

“Seto, you taste like chocolate milk,”


	19. Chapter 18: Countdown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The setup for Kaiba’s top surgery is not an accurate representation of how this works.

Kaiba hasn't told anyone about his surgery yet. And he isn't going to. Why? Well, he hasn't quite figured that one out. He spends hours on his laptop pretending he's working when really, he's just contemplating why he can't bring himself to say it despite the fast approaching surgery date. Mokuba doesn't even know, and it's tearing at the remnants of his sanity keeping this a repressed secret. He's half thinking of just getting it done, disappearing for a few weeks and coming back like 'guess what happened to me everybody!' But he can't do that. 

Right? 

The keyhole is scheduled and with minimum recovery time it'll be a minor surgery, provided there aren't complications which there likely won't be. Kaiba is looking forward so, so much so finally waking up without immediately putting on a binder that every second he waits is an eternity. An agony. It was depressing but tolerable when he used to say 'oh, I'll get surgery in a couple of years'. Now it's 'I'll get surgery in 643 hours and counting!' His genius mind reeling in overload. 

Like a lightbulb flicked on he's trapped in his own sudden burst of energy and adrenaline and demand. Sleepless nights tossing and turning, furiously typing on his keyboard and sprinting with his treadmill at the highest settings. Extreme binge eating and spontaneous 'let's go shopping!' At first it tired Yami. Now it worries him. 

"Kaiba?" He asks one night when he's curled on the couch, unable to focus on Spider-Man because he's too distracted by Kaiba doing sit-ups with his legs draped in Yami's lap. The incessant counting is driving him insane!

"122...yeah?...123," 

"Are you feeling okay? I mean you're acting really strange and..." Yami's has suspicions for a while. Unwarranted ones but given Kaiba's 'warning' behaviour, Google doctor has convinced him something sinister is going on. He entered Kaiba's 'symptoms' last week and it said with certainty they Kaiba is either a cocaine addict or has a urine infection. 

OKAY THEN. 

"Strange? I'm fine," he pants past breathlessness as sweat soaks his shirt. He jumps into a standing position, clapping his hands. "Okay, I'm hungry. Do we have KCookies?" 

Mokuba glances up from his iPad. "You know those are just Oreos but Kaiba Corp. slapped a logo on them right? Is that even legal?" 

"Oreos it is," Kaiba declares, jogging gleefully into the kitchen. 

"Y'know," Mokuba looks at Yami. "Seto's shown more emotion this week than he has in five years," 

Yami furrows his brow worriedly, pulling his knees to his chest and rocking slightly on the cushion. "You're his next of kin and emergency contact right?" 

"Yeah," Mokuba nods. 

"D'you think you could call his doctor and ask for some info?" Yami asks. "I mean, he started acting super strange on our date and hasn't calmed down since it's like he's on an adrenaline rush," 

"I've never seen him like this," Mokuba agrees. "I mean once, but that's when he was starting T and it didn't last his long. I'll call the doc," 

The Kaiba family doctor is an eccentric man with longish black hair who speaks oddly and who's body has light scaring all over, as if he's been through many surgeries himself. He insists everyone calls him Doc. "Hey Doc," Mokuba greets down the phone. "Sorry to call in the evening like this," 

"Not a problem," he returns. "What can I help you with Master Kaiba?" 

"Seto's been acting weird lately, and I don't know what's wrong," 

"Weird how?" 

"Just like, super excited and high energy. He's been running and talking lots and stuff," not generally a cause for concern, but for Seto Kaiba, this is the equivalent of an existential crisis. "I'm just worried, cause it's so drastic,"

A low amused chuckle sounds down the phone. "It's nothing to worry about. He's excited, that's all," 

"Excited?" Yami frowns. "What would Seto have to be this excited about? Didn't his KaibaLand deal fall through?" 

"No, it'll be his excitement and nerves pre-surgery. Just reassure him and support him through this time. It'll be fine," Doc assures. 

"What?!" Mokuba gasps. "Did you just say surgery?? What surgery?!" 

"The..." the line goes quiet as Doc seems to realise his mistake. "Oh shit," 

And promptly hangs up. 

Yami stays on the couch, still befuddled as to what all this means. "What does he mean surgery?" He asks quietly, as if that'll make his confusion less obvious. 

"SETO KAIBA!" Mokuba yells, stomping like a tantruming toddler into the kitchen where Kaiba is busily devouring is second packet of 'KCookies'. He runs up to his brother and hugs him tightly, burying his head into Kaiba's torso. "You idiot, why didn't you tell me?!" 

"What?" 

"About your surgery!" 

Kaiba sighs, kneeling down. "I'm sorry Mokuba," he growls, disappointed him himself by not really sure what for. His energy drops like a tonne of bricks, experiencing a natural come down of dismay. Although that might be the sugar withdrawals. "You know I don't always like acknowledging that part of myself. I'm sorry I didn't tell you," 

Mokuba cries happy tears. "I'm so happy for you Seto!" 

Yami hangs by the door, letting the brother have heir moment before speaking up. "I am literally so confused. What's happening again?" 

"I'm getting top surgery, Yami," Kaiba smirks. "Didn't you figure that out by now, Mr King of Puzzles?" 

All Yami's annoyance and worries disappear and are replaced by utter pride and jubilance. "Oh Seto this is fantastic! I'm so happy for you, really,"

And happy for himself, because ever since his grandfather, Yami hasn't had someone else to make happy. Not really. That's Kaiba. That's what Kaiba is to him. The one who's happiness makes him happy.


	20. Chapter 19: Grief

Yami sits at the head of the table alone, watching as the sun barely peeks over the top of hills in the distance. Having not slept, he's halfway through a book entitled The Stages Of Grief. Rubbing his spiky hair, he furrows his brow trying to make sense of it all. There are meant to be 5 stages, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. That's what's supposed to happen, but Yami feels like he's bypassed the first 3 and been thrown straight into a long depression. No matter how better his life gets, how close he becomes with Seto there's nothing to stop this pain. 

Yeah, maybe it subsides for an hour when they're on a date and he can forget his troubles when they all watch movies together. But then it just comes back and he's left too exhausted to sleep, not caring how that doesn't even make sense. 

"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" 

Yami looks up to see Mokuba coming in and sitting opposite him, a mug of tea in the child's hand. "No," he admits, quickly hiding the book under he table between his legs. 

"Nice try," Mokuba rolls his eyes, it his face remains soft and sympathetic. 

"You found that book in the pantry," Yami's eyes widen. "Reason I know is it used to be my book. I'm the authority on grief!" 

Yami frowns, pulling up the book and setting it on the table. He stares back and forth between it and Mokuba imagining the tears of a little child absorb into its pages. "I just..." he begins, wrestling with himself to find the right words. "...I don't understand. Why can't I just grieve like it says? I go through the stages and come out better. But it feels so fucked up. Like I'm jumping around and always land on the plateau between depression and acceptance but I can never get over it," 

He looks up at Mokuba through his blond bangs, chuckling bitterly at himself. "I know I'm not making sense," 

Mokuba smiles sadly and shakes his head. "There's a reason I got rid of that book. Nobody deals with death the same way, everyone is different and sometimes it doesn't work like that," 

"But why?!" Yami demands, to the Gods as he can't expect Mokuba to have an answer. 

He does though. 

"You went to the fourth stage as soon as he died cause you already went through the first three," Mokuba explains in between sips of tea. "In your mind, you'd already lost your grandpa. You lost who he was and when he died, you'd already been grieving for that person," 

Yami leans back, eyes bulging violent colour that shines into the wall like a rainbow beam of reflective colours. "Of course, that's just what I think," Mokuba shrugs. "I could be wrong," 

"What about you?" Yami asks, changing the subject even as he can't pay attention to himself, Mokuba's words still fresh in is mind. "Why couldn't you sleep?" 

Mokuba rolls his eyes but his smile stays soft and friendly. "I'll give you three guesses," 

Yami takes a few seconds but it comes to him. "You're worried about Kaiba," 

"Yeah," Mokuba nods, face falling. "I mean, Seto's survived way worse," 

"So what's the problem?" 

"That's the problem," Mokuba explains. "He's been through so much. His mind and body can only take so much trauma," 

"Seto's strong," Yami reasons, but can't deny it's put doubt in his own mind. So far Kaiba has been acting fine. Dismissive, cold, his usual self. Keeping everything repressed within his own head like it'll jinx his results to talk about it. "He'll be fine," 

"You should like you're trying to convince yourself," Mokuba laughs. "It's okay, I'm just being silly I know he'll be fine!" 

"Yeah..." Yami stares out the window again, this time at the closer things. The neatly trimmed hedges and ornate water fountain pouring clear sparkling water into the bowl where pink flowers glide across the surface. Sighing, he stands up and leaves his half-empty cup, wandering through and knocking on Kaiba's door. 

"One second!" Comes the deep voice from within and a very very quiet hiss of pain. The door is opening roughly and Kaiba stands above him, hair tousled and dressed in simple blue pyjamas.  

Without thought, Yami crashes into Kaiba, gripping him fiercely in a tight hug and hiding his own crying in the silken folds of his pyjamas shirt. "Please be okay, I can't lose someone else," 

Kaiba smiles a little, shaking his head. "You're so dramatic. Of course I'll be okay," 

"Promise?" Yami demands. 

"No promises, you just need to trust me," 

Yami nods. "I do," and he does.


	21. Chapter 20: Surgery

His eyes flutter awake and the white of the ceiling seems to sharpen before him, even if it remains one white abyss. Kaiba groans loudly, rolling back his eyes and head in a groggy trance to see the machines he's hooked up to. Looking down he simply sees a blanket and two drains draining fluid from his chest which is covered in white gauze. "Hello?" He calls to the open door at the end of his room but no doctor comes. 

Everything feels numb. Flat, it feels flat at least but that could be anything from a successful surgery to the illusion of lying down. There doesn't seem to be any sweeping but it feels awkward too. Likes he's been sleeping in a binder. Eventually a doctor comes in, not his actual doctor but a different one. 

"Mr Kaiba?" 

"Mmhmm," his mouth refuses to form words, torture for this normally well spoken and articulate man. He just hums in agreement and rests his head on the pillow again, desperate to return to sleep. 

"Your surgery was a complete success. There weren't any complications. You'll make a very quick recovery," 

"Mmm yay..." he manages before falling back asleep, body exhausted from the ordeal. 

*

4 Days Later. 

Yami grits his teeth as he hears the loud, shrill ringing of the bell. Walking down the corridor he finds Kaiba still ringing it, lying in bed with a pillow over his chest. Sighing in annoyance, he stares down at him. "Yes Seto?" 

Kaiba picks up his bowl and holds it out. "More ice cream, and can it be white chocolate this time?"

Yami pinches the bridge of his nose. "Why can't you get it yourself?" 

"I'm in recovery!" Kaiba insists. "See? I have a pillow and everything!" 

"I'm pretty sure you can get out of bed for a bowl of ice cream," Yami turns on his heel and heads for the door. 

"Pleeeeeeease," Kaiba whines after him. 

"Fine," Yami huffs, shaking his head and walking off. 

"And some tea too!" Kaiba calls, Yami flipping him the bird. 

He brings back a pint of white chocolate Magnum ice cream for Kaiba and climbs into the four-poster king sized bed beside him. Together they spoon ice cream while Yami reads him the business column of the paper. "Hmmm I'm going crazy not able to do any work!" Kaiba groans. 

"I thought you couldn't even get out of bed??" 

"Doesn't mean I can't complain about it," Kaiba groans, burying his face in the pillow. 

"Oh you're a big baby," Yami rolls his eyes. "Going all drama Queen," 

"Shut it," 

Yami smiles and ruffles Kaiba's hair. "When's the big reveal anyway?" 

"Big reveal?" Kaiba laughs. "I'm not a YouTuber!" 

"No," Yami considers. "You're a billionaire who owns a jet shaped like a dragon, turned up for our date in a jet pack and has a theme park named after you. There will be a big reveal. You're literally the king of big reveals!" 

Kaiba smirks. "Fine," 

"What?" 

Kaiba knowingly smirks as he downs a spoonful of ice cream. "There's a reason I had the surgery done before opening KaibaLand," 

Yami frowns in confusion. "I thought you had it done cause you had a setback in the negotiations for KaibaLand?" 

"Ssssshhhh don't ruin my fun," Kaiba protests. "You're so mean to me you know," 

"Consider it payback for turning me into your personal maid," Yami drawls as Kaiba bursts out laughing, so hard he clutches his tender chest in pain. 

"I should get you a maid's dress! Oh I bet there's one your size on eBay," 

"Don't you dare," Yami growls darkly. Kaiba raises is eyebrow in a challenge. 

"Or what?" 

"Or I'll abandon you in this bed and you'll have to get your own ice cream," he states smugly, holding back giggles as Kaiba pouts petulantly. 

"You really are no fun,"


	22. Chapter 21:

10 Days Post Op. 

Kaiba frowns a little, staring at the mirror as he moves to all angles. Side view, front, three-quarter. It doesn't look good however he sees it. It looks wrong and it's frustrating because he's been waiting so long and it feels like - no, calm down Kaiba. The doctor said it would feel like this. Just don't. Freak. Out. The binder is still wrapped around his chest but he's going for a follow up appointment. Come to think of it, when did he last change his tapes? Fuck it, that's Yami's job to remember. 'I'm not your nurse' he's been saying, but he knows he is.

The anticlimactic nature of his surgery makes Kaiba question its point. Years of waiting and waiting and for what? More waiting. Staring down he sees nothing different but the right black binder he saw before, and without a thought, possibly divergent from his disappointment, he bursts out crying. Sitting on the edge of his bed Kaiba buried his head in his hands, heaving deeply into them with asthmatic wheezing. What the duck is wrong with me?! Why am I doing this all of a sudden, why do I feel so fucking wrong?! 

He knows why but the thoughts fly around his head invading his realism which grapples around his brain to  grasp the concept of this. All he can imagine is this is a mistake, the entire thing has been a mistake. 

"Seto, what's wrong?!" Mokuba calls from the door in a small, uncertain voice. Kaiba stares at him through his own drying tears, wiping the fresh ones from his eyes, a futile action as they replace themselves. 

"Nothing, just frustrated," he growls more to himself. "I'm fine. Just emotional as fuck from the surgery," 

"O-Okay..." 

"I'll be fine by tomorrow," 

But he isn't. He's worse. A cloud of depression rains bouts of sadness on his own head, leaving him bedridden and gloomy. He wakes up only to wander around the house he now just realised is much too big for him and make coffee, hoping it'll give him more energy that it never does. 

Everyone is worried. Even Yūgi, Who was just told he 'had important surgery' watches him I'm sympathetic worry. "Why is he depressed all of a sudden?" Yugi whispers to Yami as they all watch him from the breakfast table lying across the couch, arms folded over his stomach in a dressing gown, boxers and slippers. Yami doesn't have an answer, for the number of times he confronts Kaiba the man remains distant and dismissive, almost condescending. 

In a dream one night, Kaiba now forced to sleep on his back, his least favourite position, he is visited by the Blue Eyes White Dragon. This used to happen a lot when he lived with Gozaburo, the monster shrunk and acting like a pet kitten as it comforted him. 

In the dream he sits, playing Duel Monsters without an opponent, just alone in a big empty room illuminated by an unusually bright moon. He's wearing his usual tight attire, the pain is gone and he can move his arms, and he doesn't feel like he's wearing a binder but his chest is still flat. He's holding 5 faceless cards but there's no playmat, duel disk or deck. On his back Kaiba feels the pressure of claws and the crawling up until the dragon, about the size of a large cat, sits on his shoulder. He turns to it, staring at the smooth white surface deeply shadowed. He reaches up with ease and pets the dragon. 

"Hi," he addresses it, remembering how these dreams used to go. He waits a few seconds and the dragon stays silent, urging him to continue. "I don't know. The doctor told me I'd feel 'low' after the surgery because of hormones. But why is it like this?! What the duck do I do to make it stop?!" 

The dragon stays silent but nuzzles into him further, burying its head into the crook of his neck. It's still hard like a scaly dragon would be, but warm too like he remembers, heating up against his skin. "Maybe I should just accept it. I've been fighting against to with frustration. Telling myself I'm happy - i am happy, I mean - fuck!" 

The dragon cuddles against him, curling up and wrapping his neck smugly with its tail. He reaches up and scratches under its chins, the dragon cooeing like he imagines a baby dolphin would. Cole to think of it, this monster does look kind of like one. 

"So I should just stop fighting it," he states to himself like a deontic instruction. "Accept the depression - rock bottom is it called? - let myself spiral and crash. Yeah, I can do that," 

The next morning he wakes up with a little less pessimism. Still in pain, still staring at his chest in regret and almost remorse, feeling guilty in a misplaced-anxiety kind of way. But he gets up and walks through. Everyone watches him from the table, expecting him to make his coffee and go back to bed. Instead, Kaiba makes his coffee and sits with them, sitting beside Mokuba. 

He looks up at everyone, each person doing a really terrible job at hiding their shock. And I thought I was socially inept. "Good morning?" Yami asks weirdly. 

"Shit morning actually - I feel like shit," Kaiba states in a monotone. "But that's okay. How did you all sleep?" 

He sips his coffee and smiles a little at their fumbling responses.


	23. Chapter 22: Recovery

Yami lifts his head from the pillow, wondering why he's awake at this ungodly hour as the room remains pitch black, no light coming from outside. A check of the clock confirms it's still 0530 in the morning. So why the hell is he awake? He ponders until he hears that incessant ringing of Kaiba's bell and groans in realisation. Getting up, he walks sluggishly to the other's room and opens the door. 

The light is on and Kaiba is standing in the centre with his hair sticking up. "Look Yami, I dressed myself!" He grins broadly. "You know, I'm actually getting a lot more mobile," 

"Good...for you?" Yami asks in complete jet-lag mode, still squinting his eyes at the brightness. "How mobile?" 

Kaiba lifts is hands to his face and a little above. "This mobile," he demonstrates.

"Good," Yami smiles, but it falters and becomes watery. "And uh... why am I awake?" 

"Well, I'm dressed and was wondering if you wanted to have a chat?" 

Yami quirks an eyebrow. "Chat?" 

"I spent too much time in Europe," Kaiba mutters with an apologetic smile. "You know I'm not good at this feelings thing. Talk - about us. I know that whole experience was kind of interrupted by my surgery," 

Yami's smile changes to an amused half-smirk. He nods and they go into the kitchen, Yami fixing himself some cereal and Kaiba picking an orange from the fruit basket, the first thing he's eaten since he began this post-surgery-depression-phase as everyone has began to call it. They sit opposite one another, not looking one another in the eyes. It's not awkward, the silence is enjoyable, and it seems a shame to break such a comfortable atmosphere and unleash that kind of destructive potential. Kaiba would have been happy to hang onto this silence forever but eventually it's broken.   

"What are your thoughts on us?" Yami asks suddenly, just as he swallows and his spoon clatters in the empty cereal bowl. "Do you want to become...?"

What was he going to say? There are so many words and terms that all mean things to different people. Lovers? That doesn't sound serious. Exclusive, monogamous? That might imply he's been seeing other people until now! Together? Well that's an ambiguous term. Partners? Kaiba will think he means a business sense. 

Kaiba, who actually knows exactly what he means, lets his gaze slide across to the rest of the dining room and into the kitchen, looking everywhere but that hesitantly optimistic gaze. "We need to work out the parameters," he cautions. "But yes, I do," 

Yami frowns a little. He'd hoped for something more from the King of the Monologue. "Why?" He prompts, leaning back a little in his chair and sipping mint tea. Why? 

"I mean..." Kaiba is less than prepared for this question but begins to speak straight away anyway, improvising clichés before he lands at the real, genuine reason. "...we have fun. We've been on dates, we know each other. We... we've been all each other has. Maybe we've been thrown together and that's not the best start but I wouldn't change anything, not even the worst things if it meant losing you. That might be selfish and sound like I'm an asshole but everything that's happened is what's led us to sitting at this table talking about potential future marriage so if I'm an asshole for thinking this moment is the best one of my life, than sure. Yeah," 

Kaiba gulps down a mouthful of coffee and slams down his mug, internally terrified he's dug himself into the deepest hole ever and awaiting each painful second for Yami's response. Thankfully the shorter man just chuckled a little. 

"You're actually really romantic when you want to be," Yami tells him softly, sliding a hand across the table to lie on top of his. "You are an asshole. I want you to be my asshole," 

"Okay," Kaiba smirks casually and with his refreshed mobility leans over, kissing Yami deeply, feeling their mouths collide warmly. Yami giggles a little as Kaiba's hair tickles his cheek, the softness of their faces pressed together blissfully comfortable. If there was any word that could describe their relationship it would be that: comfortable. 

* 

"Gooood morning!" Yami greets as Mokuba and Yūgi wander in a few hours later, dressed and carrying their schoolbags. Kaiba is sitting beside him with his head lying in Yami's lap, humming in relaxation as his boyfriend massages his scalp and gently plays with his hair. "Put down your bags," 

"Why?" Yūgi quirks an eyebrow. "And why is he in your lap?" 

Kaiba sits up with more difficulty than he should have. "We're, together," he says uncertainly with a failed attempt to wrap an arm around Yami's shoulders. To compensate Yami does it instead. 

"Great!" Mokuba smiles at his brother, sending him an intimate, knowing look of pride. "So why put our bags down?" 

With a shared smile and almost at the same time Yami and Kaiba announce. "We're going to celebrate of course!" Yami stands up. "I would have chosen a theme park but hays not a good idea for ... several reasons..." 

Kaiba chuckles a little darkly at that. 

"So how about an arcade day?" 

"Awesome!" Yūgi agrees. "I want to verse Kaiba in the ones he's champion in," 

The eldest man smirks. "Your funeral,"


	24. Chapter 23: Problems

Mokuba stares at himself in the mirror, frowning. He takes off his puffy khaki waistcoat and feels like crying. He's 4 foot 8, that he knows and hates. Age thirteen, he shouldn't look like this. So short and skinny, practically emaciated - 28 kg, the 1st percentile for his age. Shaking his head, he bites his lip in frustration. His height can't be genetic - just look at Seto! And his parents, for as little as he remembers them, weren't this small either. Mokuba starts to brush his hair, backcombing for height and slicking it with gel at the ends, trying to get it as big and voluminous as possible. 

He always imagined he'd look just like his brother, tall and dynamic and angular and handsome. Intimidating with all that charisma to command an entire audience. But he's always been so babyish and tiny - and he tears his hair out wondering why. 

There's a light knocking on his door. Mokuba drops his hair and turns around, seeing his brother's sleepy face poking into his room. "Yami made breakfast," he states, shrugging a little in their brotherly signal of 'do what you want, everything is just a suggestion' they use for almost everything. Kaiba moves to retract back and close the door. 

Mokuba stares at the floor for a few seconds. "S-Seto...?" 

His face reappears. "Yeah?" 

Mokuba bites back his words, keeping an entire monologue repressed just under his tongue aching to deliver it. "Nothing. What did he make?" 

"Waffles," 

Of course. "Uh, save me some,"

"Okay," Kaiba mumbles, closing the door for good this time. 

Mokuba sits on his bed, hunching and crumbling slightly in tears, burying his head in his hands. He cries silently, his head spinning in a torrent of guilt, spiralling into self-hating anxiety. He feels guilty because for all Seto's gone through - what right do I have to be insecure? 

"Bye, everyone," Mokuba mumbles as he leaves the mansion, having already called one of the drivers to park a limo at the gate. Kaiba leans over from the table. 

"We saved you some-" the door slams. "- waffles?" Kaiba shrugs as continues eating, oblivious to the two brothers staring at him in shock at the table. Until he realises nobody's eating but him, and looks up to see them frozen like cavemen preserves in ice. He swallows in a harsh gulp. 

"What?" He asks, looking behind him like he's missed something. 

"No offence Seto, but you're dense," Yami points out, shaking his head in slight amusement. He watches Kaiba's face turn from confused to offended, intervening to put out that fire before it begins. "I mean, how is it one family member can be so perceptive when the other is an emotional idiot?"

"That's...okay...?" Kaiba looks at Yūgi and in mock anger, or it might be passive aggression, decides to ask him instead. "Since my boyfriend finds me such a hopeless case, what's happening?" 

Yūgi smiles a little, too considerate for his own good. "Kaiba, when has Mokuba ever turned down waffles?"

"Never," Kaiba answers like a multiple choice question science quiz.

"And doesn't he literally want to spend every waking moment with his," Yūgi speaks slowly and holds up his hands for air quotes. "'big brother'?"

"Yessss?" Kaiba's eyes widen slightly as he finally registers his brother's odd behaviour. Yami smirks slightly and leans into Yūgi. 

"I think he's getting it," 

Kaiba pushes his plate away, staring at the take for a second and wondering what's wrong. "Has he said anything to you?" He asks Yūgi, who thinks for a second and shrugs. 

"Nah, he seems fine. We've been hanging out all the time after school," 

Maybe it's the way Yūgi said it, or maybe it's Kaiba's experiences with institutions. But when Yūgi mentions school it makes him stop for a second. Mokuba spends 95% of his life in one of two places: school or his bedroom, and if Yūgi reports nothing wrong there, something must be happening at school. For a brief second his brain flips back to the orphanage, his vulnerable brother the target of brutal harassment from condescending brats. Just opportunists grabbing an easy target to bully - the kind who quiver in terror when faced with any real confrontation. 

"I'm going to go, I have to talk to my brother," 

"He's in school?" Yūgi reminds him. 

"Not for long if what I think is happening is happening," Kaiba considers, throwing on his coat that hung on the back of his chair and tossing his phone to Yami. "Call Gyosei Junior dept. - speed dial is 7 - and tell them Seto Kaiba is picking up Mokuba. Also, Yūgi, you okay to take the day off and spend it with Mokuba?" 

"Yeah!" Yūgi grins and Kaiba runs , less than dignifiedly, to the doors. Yami Eyes a smiling Yūgi dubiously. 

"You're not getting the day off," 

"Damn," 

* 

When Kaiba arrives at the school it must be morning break, the fifteen minutes per morning most students eat breakfast and play together, usually soccer or cricket. He scans the playground for his brother until he spots a shock of raven hair at the corner of the largest running track. As he approaches he notices Mokuba surrounded by three larger boys. 

"Hey pipsqueak!" Jeers the eldest, shoving him against the wall a little. "Isn't your brother like, a murderer?" 

"Wh-What?" Mokuba stammers begins his veil of fear, hugging the cold wall for respite from the anxiety pulsing through his veins, heart jackhammering against his rib cage and body drenching in sweat, flashes of freezing and boiling colliding across his body. Another boy rips his bag from his hands. "What are you doing?! That's mine!" 

"Ours now, shortie!" The boy slaps his own chest. "What're you gonna do about it? Fight me, you little runt?"

"No but I will," 

The latest boy watches the others back away in fear, trembling as they scatter in directions they don't even know where to. Slowly, with a chill creeping up his back he turns just to cower from the tall, slender man above. The infamous Seto Kaiba, towering above the boys and most Japanese men with his intimidating sneer and dark image contrasting the white light of the sun. 

He grabs the kid's shirt and slams him into the wall, creating a gathering crowd of kids from the other fields. Some gawking, laughing, others running to collect teachers. Seto's eyes burn into his, knowing they intimidate, the blue battering against the black abyss of his pupil, stormy whirlpools raging behind his eyes. "Did you say I'm a murderer?" 

The kid is frozen in shock. 

"I want a fucking answer!" He pulls him forward and slams his back again, this time his head taps against it, a cracking nose is heard. Kaiba tells himself to calm down, his rational voice freaking out and pleading with him to leave, apologise, pay the kid, anything! But that close loses itself in the angry mist of his instincts, his memories of the orphanage and Gozaburo. Of everyone thinking they can push him around, walk all over his brother. And of the guilt. 

"Y-Yeah...y-you killed the old CEO..." the kid trails off, petrified and seconds away from pissing himself. "M-My dad's an investor he said so..." 

"Is that right?" 

A nod. 

"Well if I'm a murderer I wouldn't have any issues beating up a puny little kid like you would I?" 

Unable to answer he just shakes his head. 

"Drop the backpack," he hadn't even realised he was still holding it, white knuckles clinging to it. He drops it and sprints off, not looking back to see Kaiba pick it up and sling it over his shoulder. He looks down at Mokuba, unable to stop the disappointment twinging in his eyes. 

Not disappointment I'm Mokuba but in himself. For not noticing earlier, for acting like as asshole and for not being someone his brother can trust to talk to about this stuff. "Here's your bag," he throws it at Mokuba's feet, tearing his eyes away from his dejected brother's. "Come on, were going home," 

He walks off, trusting his brother to follow.


	25. Chapter 24: Trust Issues

The limo doors slam and Kaiba presses the button for the divider to slowly roll up between them and the driver. "Just drive around until I tell you where to go," he told him and through the tinted windows a warped version of the city passes by. 

Mokuba looks at his yellow backpack and brushes some dust and grass strands off it from the playground, not wanting any visual reminders of that horror. They sit in tense silence, Kaiba staring at Mokuba and Mokuba glaring at his backpack trying not to cry, to show his brother he's even more weak. "We need to talk," Kaiba chokes out - he really isn't good at this, and he should be with the number of times he and Mokuba have 'the bullying talk'. "How long has this been happening for?" 

"A while," Mokuba spits back, knowing he's just furious at himself, and the guilt from being mean to Seto is making him even more pauses at himself, which is making him more hostile and it's just an inescapable cycle of fuckery.

"That's not an answer," Kaiba snaps back. "How long?"

"Since I started," Mokuba admits reluctantly, knowing his brother will keep pushing. That's all he does, is push. He's so smart but he acts like he has setting to prove. What? That's he's the fucking man and can yell and beat everyone up? That he can be in control? Well he might be in control of everyone and everything around him but he has no idea how to control himself. That kid was fifteen, he's a grown man! "I'm handling it," 

"It didn't look like you were handling it," he still doesn't take his eyes off Mokuba, fixating on him as his head spins for answers. Why didn't he tell him, why did he feel like he couldn't? Oh yeah, cause I'm a dumb fuck and do shit like this... "I know you can handle if, but you just don't. I always have to step in - you want me to let you get hurt?" 

"Whatever," Mokuba shrugs. "I'm used to it," 

"No," Kaiba whispers, remembering that mentality. Remembering what it feels like to believe being hurt is okay. "No, no never say that. Never think it either! It's not whatever, it's important. You're important and you never deserve to be hurt," 

"You didn't always believe that," Mokuba reminds him. 

"I know, I let Gozaburo-" 

"I'm not talking about Gozaburo I'm talking about you!" Mokuba yells so loud it bounces off the walls and the driver surely hears. 

It takes Kaiba a few seconds to realise he's no longer angry. Just sad. And he realises tears are rolling down his cheeks and his mouth feels tight and his throat dry, so dry it makes his eyes sting and cry more to hold down his coughs. He speaks barely above a whisper, because he can't manage anything more. "You told me you'd forgiven me..."

"I was a kid," Mokuba reasons. "I forgave you cause you were my brother. I idolise you Seto, I always have. And I hate it cause you're such a dick, you hurt me and I can't even be made at you cause you're so much better than me!" 

"Is that what you think?" Kaiba shakes his head at the shocking thought. Him? "I'm not better than anyone. You don't think I know how fucking terrible I am? How much of a failure I am?!" 

Mokuba shuts up, just listening to this absolute truth he's never heard from his brother. This honesty and openness, Seto really letting himself be vulnerable. 

"You think I give a shit about the money and the company, about any of this?!" He licks the side of the limousine as if to prove his point. "I don't. The only thing I care about is you! I do all of his for you, if it weren't for you I wouldn't even be here! You're the whole reason I challenged Gozaburo, the reason I took those fucking beatings and worked my way to the top!" 

Through his speech Mokuba has started crying, though he can't remember when he started exactly. "I never asked to to do any of this!" 

"I know..." Kaiba cries, hanging his head between his legs. He keeps crying, entire body shaking as he draws his knees to his chest. "I never asked you what you want..." 

"No," Mokuba wipes away his tears just for fresh, angry cries to appear again. "You didn't,"

Kaiba presses the buttons to lower the divider and tells the driver in a scratchy voice.  "Take us home," he curses how much of an ugly cryer he is.

As soon as the car it passes through the gate to their massive courtyard Mokuba runs out, up to the house and inside. They park just by the door, but Kaiba stays in his seat, body slumped in exhaustion in the corner. He just breathes, heavily and for a long time. Counting 3 seconds inhale, 5 seconds exhale. He's to stubborn to admit it calms him down after telling so many people it's stupid.

After a few minutes he notices Yami hanging out by the front door, just watching him with a confused expression. He comes out, slamming the door and walking up to the steps. Yami opens his mouth to ask all sorts of questions like 'what happened with Mokuba?' 'Why did he storm in?' 'What took you so long?' But Kaiba doesn't give him the chance as he grabs his wrist and drags him upstairs. 

"Wh-Where as we going?" 

"Upstairs," Kaiba states in a voice that begs no argument. 

"Why...?" Yami asks, suspicious now. 

Kaiba scoffs like it's the most obvious thing. "To have angry sex,"


	26. Chapter 25: Angry Sex

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Standard NSFW warning.

Kaiba stops just before the door to one of his guest rooms. Turning, he eyes the flustered Yami up and down. "Are you willing?" He asks, and it's like Yami just returns from whatever far-off galaxy his mind had taken him. Actually Kaiba knows where that is, the answer to the question of how exactly this is going to work, something it's always been 'too early' to discuss. 

"What? Sorry I was-" 

"Do you consent?" Kaiba clarifies before banging open the door and offering Yami entrance with his other hand. 

"I-yes," Yami nods.

"Good," Kaiba nods, flicking on the light and closing the door behind him. The mostly bare room seems fitting, just a Queen bed and white walls, nice carpet. He could be comfortable here. 

Yami watches him closely, on guard. Not because there's any danger, or who know, there could be. But because of how Kaiba is acting, so erratic and wild. So different to how he normally is, cold and reserved. So it's worrying. "Is everything okay? I mean, I don't want to do this with up if you don't-" 

"I'm emotional," Kaiba readily admits. "But I hate talking. And this is the only thing that'll replace this absolute overload of negative shit with something I like," he explains and Yami understands, nodding as he begins to carefully remove each little piece of jewellery, placing it neatly on the dresser.

"I'm happy, that we can do this," he smiles at Kaiba, walking up and stopping, his eye level barely reaching his collarbone. Standing on his tiptoes and arching his neck he kisses him deeply, submitting to Kaiba's dominance in the kiss. Just as he pulls back, he places a halting hand on Kaiba's chest. "If you feel uncomfortable with anything tell me okay?" 

"You're so sensitive," Kaiba shakes his head. "Fine. My safe word is Dragon," 

"Mine is..." Yami thinks, having never thought of one before. "Game," 

"Okay," Kaiba hands start to straggle Yami's hips, sliding up his body until they wrap lightly around his shoulders. With a final, gentle kiss he grips the back of Yami's neck, using it to slam him down on the bed and climb on top of him. Pinning Yami by is wrists, he grinds into him a little from the back.

"How do we-?" 

"Just," Kaiba places his head in Yami's neck, kissing and nipping on the sensitive flesh. "Just let me lead," 

Yami hums, feeling his body stretch out on the mattress like a purring cat. "D'we have condoms n-" Kaiba's teeth graze a sensitive spot on his earlobe. "Hmmm lube?"

Kaiba pulls back and reaches into the bottom drawer of the beside table, pulling out a bottle of strawberry lube. "H-Have you done this before?" Yami asks, suddenly realising how out of his depth he is. He squirms uncomfortably to the other side of the bed as Kaiba smirks and squeezes some onto his hands. 

"Yeah, don't worry. I know what I'm doing," he assures, stopping when he sees Yami cowering like a frightened puppy. "You alright?" 

The smaller man nods tightly and since no safe word was used, Kaiba proceeds in pulling up Yami's right shirt, running his hands down his chest and torso, into the hips n his hipbones and into his pants. "What's this?" He grins evilly as his slippery hand wraps around Yami's member, stroking it upwards as it swells beneath his touch. Yami's skin is warm and soft, so much so he allows his entire weight to rest on him like a body pillow. 

"F-Fuck-!" Yami lulls his head back as the anxiety and fear seem to dissipate. He lies on his front and lets his eyelids fluffier half-closed, stretching out and relaxing as the electric sensations overcome his reasoning. Moaning as Kaiba reaches further into his pants he lets himself get lost in the act. 

A few minutes later, Yami turns his head and kisses Kaiba, still softly but deep and passionate, pulling away to let his head rest on the soft pillow, curling up to let the high wash over him. Kaiba stands up, walking to the ensuite to wash his hands. "Was that, enjoyable?" He smiles knowingly as he leans against the doorframe. 

"Y-Yeah," Yami gasps breathlessly, amazed he can manage even that. "What, is that it?" 

Kaiba looks into his eyes in abject confusion. "You finished didn't you?"

"Yes but... you didn't!" Yami insists. "You're the one who wanted this in the first place, why...?" 

Kaiba laughs to himself. "I thought you would know? I'm ace," he explains, shrugging it off and pulling out his phone, beginning to type and signalling the end of the conversation. 

"But you wanted to do this!" Yami insists. "You wanted to have 'angry sex - why the fuck Seto??" 

Kaiba looks up from his phone and frowns. "You're mad?" He slides it into his pocket. "Why?" 

"Why did you even want to do this?!" Yami demands, waving his hands as he speaks at the incredulity.

"It's a stress thing, I think," he shrugs, leaning against the bookcase and folding his arms , half-scowling in offence. "I do this kind of thing to relieve stress and frustration - that's it. I'm sorry if it wasn't the magical first time you expected with me," he rolls his eyes, pulling his coat back on and fixing what little strands of his hair have gone askew in the mirror. 

"Fuck you," Yami growls from the bed. "That's fucked up, Kaiba," 

As his hand wraps around the doorknob to leave, Kaiba looks back at Yami sadly, the pangs of hurt stabbing at his weakened heart. Fragile as his emotions are already Kaiba slams it closed again, leaning against it. "What am I meant to do, then?" He stares at Yami. "What, exactly?" 

"I mean, I want you to be an equal partner!" Yami insists, staring to cry as his voice breaks, losing its usually clear crisp quality.

Kaiba shakes his head. "I can't do that right now," he stares intensely at his boyfriend. "You need to understand that. Until I feel more comfortable in," he makes frenetic hand gestures down at his body. "This, there's no way," 

Yami looks away, focusing on the crinkled folds of the bedsheet he pulls up to his waist. "Okay," he nods. "I can do that, I understand," 

"Thank you," Kaiba's face remains unreadable, mouth etched in a thin line, not quite a scowl; this is just his normal face, but people would assume he's angry. 

Yami stands, stretching out a little and walking to the en suite. "I'm going for a shower, care to join me?" He laughs when he catches the look on Kaiba's face and winks. "Just kidding," 

Kaiba rolls his eyes and moves to sit on the bed. He does, on the edge and falls back onto it, lying on his back with his arms folded across his ribcage. He lies in comfortable silence before hearing a knock on the door. "Come in," he says without moving. 

Mokuba slides in and closes the door, leaning against it and watching his brother who doesn't move. "I gotta... I gotta trust you not to freak out when I tell you things," he explains meekly. 

"I have to trust you to tell me things," Kaiba responds, sitting up and sticking out his hand. "Deal?" 

Instead of shaking his hand Mokuba jumps into a hug, sitting on his lap and careful not to lean on his chest. Kaiba smiles and wraps his arms around Mokuba. The hug lasts longer than it should and Yami comes out he shower to find the Kaiba brothers asleep and curled up in each other's arms.


	27. Chapter 26: Yami’s Biggest Problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another standard NSFW warning

It's still dark when Yami opens his eyes, feeling the warm body beside him and the chest move up and down with slow breaths. His head rests on Kaiba's shoulder again, blinking away thoughts of waking up and slipping back into his dreamland. He wonders what Kaiba dreams about if the man so reserved about his emotions dreams at all. Probably sex dreams about dragons, he laughs to himself. Damn, now I'm awake. He sighs, huffing. It's a bad day when you wake up earlier than Seto Kaiba, the world's best-functioning insomniac automaton.  Leaning over Yami places a gentle kiss on Kaiba's forehead. "Sleep well," Ra knows you need it.

Yami's biggest problem since moving in with Kaiba is how bored he is. Honestly, he loves spending time with Kaiba but these moments are fleeting and as Kaiba recovers he's been returning to old habits - overworking himself, staying at KaibaCorp HQ all night, generally absent most of the day. It's not like Yami didn't know what he was getting into with this relationship, but he also didn't realise how little there is to do in a house that has literally every game ever made inside it. Puzzles not matter new new innovative or exciting get old when the rest of the household is obsessed with them and you just like them, aren't willing to spend five hours on a telekinetic jigsaw (Trademark KaibaCorp) like they are. 

So on a whim, to alleviate his boredom Yami decides to explore the acres of ground on the Kaiba estate, what Mokuba affectionately refers to as 'Kaibadom', like Kaiba-Kingdom. He garden stretches for acres, he doesn't know how many, and is maintained by a staff of fifty Yami assumes were here during Gozaburo's reign. 

Hedges rise ten feet into the sky, neatly trimmed to the inch and dotted in pink flowers genetically bred to Kaiba's specifications. The man maintains so much control over everything, it must be so difficult to exist in a relationship, so uncertain. Coming to a clearing Yami discovers sheng amusing. A very small pond in which three ducks swim and splash. They dive for tiny fish swimming in a world below them in schools so tightly compacting it looks like swirls of orange paint splashed on a canvas, moving as one. Yami smiles, kneeling by the pond and staring at the ducks which immediately swim over to him, quacking impatiently. 

"Sorry, I don't have food," he apologises. "Grandpa liked feeding ducks. You like sunflower seeds, don't you?" 

More quacks, seemingly in agreement. 

"It feels good, having someone depend on me," Yami declares, the first time he's admitted this out loud, even just to himself. He's missed that part of his grandpa the most, all he's known. First it was taking care of Yuugi after his own parents left. Then, watching his grandfather slowly and slowly depend on him for more and more. Then Kaiba after his surgery, but now even Kaiba doesn't seem to need him. These ducks well, they can be his lifeline. Being unable to take care of something, he feels without purpose. 

"They're pregnant," 

Yami gasps and turns around, seeing Kaiba standing in the archway of the clearing. He's leaning against the hedge, still in his work clothes but with a loosened tie and his shirt untucked - for Seto Kaiba, this equates to being naked. "What?" 

"The ducks, they're pregnant," Kaiba elaborates, walking forward and crouching down beside Yami. "They're due to hatch in the spring. If you want, you can keep one of the chicks. I doubt they'll all fit in this pond," 

Yami frowns up at his boyfriend. "Seto, why do you keep ducks? It certainly doesn't seem like you," 

"After I redesigned the gardens I figured I owed Mokuba some reparations for killing his dog -"

"Wait wha-?" 

"- so I put in a duck pond. This is the first year we'll have chicks. Mokuba will get one, Yūgi will get one and I assume you want one. The rest will remain in this pond," Kaiba explains. 

"How did you know I was here?" Yami asks. 

"I just looked for you," Kaiba points up into the hedge and when Yami squints his eyes, he sees the sunlight reflecting off mirrored glass. Of course there's a hidden camera. He tears out a few handfuls of grass and tosses them into the pond, the ducks drifting around uninterestedly.

"Aren't you at work?" Yami looks up at him. "How's that going anyway?" 

"The investors are still dickheads but we're getting closer to a contract," Kaiba explains somewhat optimistically. "But I took the afternoon off," 

Yami snorts in honest surprise. "You? Afternoon off?" He stares at Kaiba in the eyes as if trying to catch him out in a lie. "You never 'take the afternoon off'," he laughs. "What's really going on?"

"Honestly, I miss you during the day," Kaiba admits, leaning back onto the grass, for once not caring if his suit gets ruined. "Moreso than normal. I guess I'm becoming attached," 

Yami smiles down at him and lies down too, feeling the grass tickle his exposed arms and the sun beat down on his entire body. He lets his hand drop to his side and feels the warmth of Kaiba's own as he entwines their fingers together. "I miss you too," Yami laughs. "It gets so boring here without you during the day," 

"Well I'm here now," he smirks, pushing himself on top of Yami and pinning him down with his knees, straddling his hips in the clearing. "And I'm all yours," 

"I like that idea," Yami kisses Kaiba softly, their bodies gently touching and cuddling not sensually but in a way that makes them both feel so connected, so warm and together, their bodies melding into one like molten metal pressed together by loving, devoted hands. They still hold hands as they switch position, rolling around the garden. They pick tiny strands of grass and blow them into the air and at each other for fun, Kaiba's hair immediately getting messed up. 

At some point Yami announces "Grass fight!" And they launch into competition, one Kaiba wins quickly with his brute force strategy. 

"Seto?" Yami rolls across the grass and bumps into him. 

"Yes?" Kaiba asks, a little worm out. He hasn't exerted himself this much since having surgery and he can feel his chest tighten with short breaths. 

"Can I make you a flower crown?" 

Kaiba sits up. "What the fuck is a flower crown?" 

"Like this," Yami demonstrates by making one link of a daisy chain. "But all the way around your head," 

Kaiba stares at it for a few second and rolls his eyes. "That's dumb," 

"You're dumb," Yami laughs and sticks one of the daisies in Kaiba's hair. The taller gets irritated and tugs it out. 

"No," 

"Stop being so boring, Seto," Yami rolls his eyes and starts creating chains, looping them around Kaiba's head. "There," he smiles proudly. "You are now a living Snapchat filter," 

Kaiba shakes his head with a smile bigger than Yami's ever seem him with before. A soft, happy smile that could almost resemble a happy person's. "What now?" Kaiba asks, twirling a finger in his hair and staring up, eyes rolling into the back of his head to try and see his own flower crown. He's so cute,  Yami thinks, even though Seto Kaiba is handsome, not cute. He still looks cute right now. 

"Well, we're all alone, aren't we?" Yami asks. It's true, they are. Yūgi and Mokuba are at school and they're in a remote patch of clearing in the Kaiba mansion shielded by trees. Kaiba smirks a little, standing up and covering the security camera with some leaves. 

"Now we are," he teases, kneeling back down and kissing Yami a little more forcefully this time. Passionately, enough to press him down into the grass again. Yami hurries to unbutton his own trousers, Kaiba kissing all the way down his neck, sucking and licking in all the right areas, the sensitive spots of flesh.

His tongue and mouth drifts lower and he pulls up Yami's right tank top to expose his slender hips. Licking his lips Kaiba trails down to his pelvis, slowly, torturously unbuttoning his fly. "Dammit Seto!" Yami growls, ripping open his zipper and frantically yanking down the front of his boxers, exposing his large erection. "Just-" he hisses through his teeth. "Hurry up!" 

"With pleasure," Kaiba chuckles, enveloping Yami's length in his mouth. 

With practiced technique Kaiba swirls his tongue around the head before swallowing the entire length, running his tongue up the underside of Yami's deep vein. He steadies himself as he changes his pace just to infuriate Yami, delighting in his mewls and wriggles of pleasure. 

After not a long time Kaiba feels the election pumping in his mouth, throbbing against his tongue before Yami explodes into his mouth, groaning and shuddering as his fingers grip the grass below his body. Kaiba spits harshly before falling on top of Yami, both exhausted and desperate for cuddles. 

Kaiba wraps his arms around Yami, pulling him close and nuzzling into the crook of his neck. "This is nice," he commend about the cuddling. Still panting, Yami agrees. 

"Y-Yeah..." he nods between shuddering breaths. "But it is cold. Mind if we go inside?" 

It takes all of Kaiba strength to stand up. "For this specialist of non-special occasions, I'll get the good blankets,"


	28. Chapter 27:

Yūgi and Mokuba wander into the Kaiba manor at 2300, laughing and sharing drinks in large plastic cups. They put their half-finished cups on the countertop, Yūgi pulling up an episode of The Bedfellows on YouTube on his phone. As the sound comes on in the semi-darkness they hear a loud "Sh!" And Mokuba jumps, stumbling back a little. He turns on his phone torch to see Kaiba fast asleep on the couch, his hair messy with grass and, are those daisies? And Yami lying on top of him, curled in an expensive Egyptian cotton blanket. Yami silently points down at Kaiba and whispers. "He's asleep. Overworked," 

Mokuba nodded in silent understanding, pulling Yūgi upstairs and to their room to play video games, closing the door as quietly as possible. Not like they'll leave the room the rest of the night - they practically share the room now. Mokuba is even thinking of having bunk beds installed and moving Yūgi in permanently. 

The next morning Yūgi and Mokuba wake up to a scream. It's a very distinctive scream, loud and long it still controlled and pushed for dramatic effect - a Kaiba scream. They run downstairs to find the floor covered in their drinks from yesterday. Kaiba coughs, wiping his mouth on his sleeve, his clothes now drenched in the stuff.  "What the fuck is this?!" Kaiba screeches. "It's rancid, it tastes like piss!" 

"It's been on that counter all night! Did you drink it?! My spit's been on that!" 

"Who the fuck just leaves half open drinks on a counter all night?!" 

"Who the fuck just drinks something half-drank out of a cup they find?!" Mokuba demands, just as shocked. Everyone breathes really heavily until they calm down. 

"What..." Kaiba keeps breathing slowly, looking down at the liquid he's just spilled all over himself, cringing as he peels his sticky shirt off his chest. "...is this?" 

"It's bubbletea," Mokuba answers, fighting the urge to take his phone out and film. 

"Are you alright, Kaiba?" Yogi asks nicely. Kaiba just nods after a few seconds. 

"What's bubbletea?" Kaiba asks, mouthing the odd word and trying to imagine what Hell that is. Tea made with soap? Tea still boiling so there are still bubbles? 

"You...don't know what bubbletea is..." Mokuba gasps, astounded. "My brother?! Doesn't know what bubbletea is?! That's criminal!" 

Yami raises his sleepy head from the couch. "Hm, what's going on?" He rubs his eyes, stifling a yawn. 

"Kaiba's never had bubbletea!" Yūgi blurts out before he can stop himself. Yami perks up, suddenly entirely awake. 

"What?!" Yami demands. Kaiba rolls his eyes. 

"I don't care what this thing is, it clearly isn't important," he sniffs his shirt. "Or sanitary," 

Yami springs awake, apparently deciding his creased clothes from yesterday are entirely what he's going to wear today. "We're going to get you some right now. Come on Seto," 

"At least let me fix my hair first," Kaiba groans, pulling bits of grass from  his brown mop. "That tea was fucking rancid anyway,"

"Yeah, cause someone left it out all night," Mokuba glares at Yūgi who pouts, too timid to defend himself. "It's so much better fresh. Let's go!" 

"Can we walk?" Yami asks. He's not only thinking of the environment but also, the days of sunshine are getting fewer and farther between as winter approaches as he wants to make the most of them. Without asking everyone agrees. 

The Kaiba brothers bound ahead, Mokuba talking excitedly about a new programming software he's proposing and Kaiba suggesting upgrades - from a distance it looks like they're really bonding. Yami and Yūgi hang back a little, admiring the different mansions that are part of this 'neighbourhood' of vast estates. "You and Mokuba are getting close?" Yami offers his little brother with a smirk. Yūgi blushes brightly. 

"N-No! I'm not - no!" 

Yami chuckles. "I'm joking. But if you are, please use protection," 

"We aren't," Yūgi states firmly, finding his voice again. "You know I like Anzu. She's so pretty, and I've even seen her in her bikini!" 

"Out of all of us I'd never assume you were the straight one," Yami laughs. "Okay, well if anything happens with her-" 

"It won't," 

"Oh, why not?" 

Yūgi looks down, sighing sadly, whimpering in defeat like a deflated balloon. "She just sees me as a friend. And besides, she's still into you," 

"Still?!" Yami gasps. "It's been four years!" 

"Well she still is!" Yūgi laughs. "Hey, remember that time Grandpa thought he was our age again and told Anzu her breads had gotten bigger?!" He bursts out laughing and even though it shouldn't, that memory makes Yami smile too.  

They arrive at the bubbletea shop. It's decorated in bright fuchsia and brightly coloured adverts are plastered across the walls for all the different flavours and products. A humming fridge claims to sell all the boba flavours - but where's the lychee? - and behind the counter stands Katsuya Jonouchi in a black apron. 

"Hiya, what can I get for ya!" He smiles brightly and Kaiba cringes; this man has too much energy. Yami nudges Kaiba forward to stare at the menu but having never tied any of it, he has no idea what he wants. 

"What would you recommend?" He asks as if at the Ritz, scouring through the menu and making no sense of it. Jonouchi quirked am eyebrow and looked at Yūgi. 

"It's his first time Jou," Yūgi smiles. "He doesn't know what he's doing," Kaiba resents that bit but doesn't mention it. Jonouchi nods and thinks a little. 

"You like milky tea or black tea or like fruit tea?" 

"Milky," Kaiba answers. Like how Englishmen drink it. 

"And d'you like really strong tastes or mild ones?" 

"Strong," 

Jonouchi nods, the list of possible teas getting shorter. "And do you like super sweet tastes or more subtle ones?" 

"Subtle," Definitely. Jonouchi smiles and starts to make the tea after asking for a preferred temperature - Kaiba decided on hot. Yami, Yūgi and Mokuba got their usuals (Thai milk with tapioca, cookies and cream with blueberry and strawberry plain). Jonouchi returns and hands Kaiba his - a warm roasted oolong with lychee boba.

Everyone waits with bated breath as a sceptical Seto Kaiba places the wide blue straw to his lips and drinks some of the tea, chewing at the bobas. As he tastes it, his face doesn't change, remaining stoic before he swallows deeply, even taking another huge gulp for good measure. 

"Ahem, Mokuba," he speaks softly, setting his tea on the countertop. "What was it you said this morning? I'm criminal for not having tried this,"'

"Yeah?" Mokuba affirms. Kaiba presses his wrists together and holds out his hands. 

"Well then lock me up. Because it's true,"


	29. Chapter 28: Love, Maybe?

Kaiba and Yami snuggle warmly under the comfy woollen blanket, soft fluff tickling their bare arms underneath. Between them sits a pint of melty Raspberry ice cream they devour while watching Netflix. "Hm, I can't really get into this show," Yami comments with a wrinkled nose, slurping the ice cream he loves from a big spoon. "I mean, it's so American-ised and overly dramatic,"

Kaiba snatches the spoon from him and drinks more. "Are you serious? Neil Caffrey is incredibly deep. I mean, the storyline is very well executed and he's also very sexy," 

Yami glares at his boyfriend. "What was that?!" 

"Nothing..." Kaiba trails off, smirking when Yami looks back at the TV. To avoid anymore arguments he switches to Dr Who - although he should have known tall, skinny brunette men with dynamic hairstyles and long coats are totally Yami's type. They watch, but don't really focus. Especially Kaiba who can't stop staring at his boyfriend, amazed by him, awestruck at the strides they've made, how close he's gotten to another person. Something he never thought possible. Does luck exist after all? Karma, that he was finally getting a break from the barrage of trauma, pain and suffering. 

If it does exist, and empirically it doesn't, Yami is his luck. Yami is what binds him together in this insanely uncomfortable existence based on heartbreak, disconnect and disassociation. Yami is the constant saviour. A short term one, with a brief intermission. Someone he pushed against, coldly rejected but persisted against his childish aversions. But someone who is the only consistent positive thing in his life. Someone who saved him more than once even if he is someone he hasn't known a long time at all. How can someone he's known for less than a year be so impactful? And then Kaiba remembers a fun George Carlin skit on time and everything seems less complicated and he really just wants more ice cream. 

"My leg is numb, get your ass off my thigh," Kaiba groans, pulling Yami into the middle of his lap and wrapping his arms around his waist, under the blanket. Hmm so warm he hums and buries his head into the crook of Yami's neck. Yami pouts, lying his own head on Kaiba's shoulder. 

"Not my fault you're comfy," 

"Are you calling me fat?" he glares, but doesn't wait for an answer before he kisses Yami's cheek, nestling closely into him. He doesn't feel like he's ever been this warm, this close. He has with Mokuba. but their relationship hasn't been physical for years - Kaiba has issues with touch, even with him. Hugging becomes more infrequent for brothers as they age. of course, but its disproportionately infrequent for their closeness. Kaiba suppresses feelings of guilt when he remembers a time after their parents funeral when Mokuba was devastated, so young and confused and reaching out for a hug, and he just pushed him away. That hurts him so much, maybe just because he's unable to blame it on Gozaburo. That was all him, his own rage and resentment and anger. Something that existing far before Gozaburo. "Do you like touching me?" 

Yami gives him an odd look, frowning deeply and stretching further across his chest to reach up and kiss him. "What is that brain of yours overthinking now?" he chuckles, shaking his head and grinning. 

"Nothing, just a question," 

Yami glances at him sceptically, analysing each part of his face. "For a Master manipulator, you have a really obvious guilty face," he informs. "When you ask me questions like that, you're really asking yourself, but you can't think like that sooo you have to ask others and base your answers off of their answers," 

Kaiba flushes slightly, looking away with a shameful growl. "No I don't," 

"You do it with what breakfast cereal to buy!" Yami remains with a laugh. "We all know you like the most sugary kind Seto, just own it!" 

Kaiba waits, eyes darting from one side to the other expectantly. Eventually Yami relents with a sigh. "Personally, I love touching you. Not in a sexual way - although you are very good with that - I just love to be affectionate with you. I love being close to you,"

"Does that mean you love me?" Kaiba asks, confused beyond belief. All of these little social norms, each making him a deeper hole to escape a pit of complete mental block. It's like he can't access any of it, not even his learned understandings of human behaviour. Damn, why can't people be more predictable? The spectrum of behaviour ranges too wide for him, he can only understand... the semi-interquartile range, and even that's pushing it. Yami pulls away from him and frowns when he loses his comfort blanket named Seto. 

"Did you seriously just ask if I love you?" 

"Yes?" 

"It's been two months, Seto," 

"Well I don't know how long to wait!" And he doesn't. He was originally having these thoughts last months, thinking that when Yami celebrated their 'one-month-iversary' it mean he was delving in serious. Then again, this is Kaiba's first relationship. He's just expected to know all this shit? What he considers unnecessary. "Just... do you have an answer, I mean? I'm not expecting a proposal. You know that,"

Yami does know that. He knows this is likely just another fucked up Kaiba-ism he'll never quite understand. "Yeah, I know," he smiles a little, returning to his cosy spot in Kaiba's arms. "And I know you won't be upset with my answer. Hell you probably hoped it was this. Seto, I maybe, possibly, love you but I can't give you a definite nor can I give you a percentage, decimal, fraction or whatever number. I don't know that yet," 

"Me either," Kaiba grins wide, happy with the answer. "As soon as I do know anything close to that, I'll tell you," 

"So what we have is, maybe-love," he laughs, reluctantly getting up. "We've finished the ice cream and we still have all of the new Dr Who Season 10 episodes to watch," 

"Yeah. And I want to binge - Capaldi is my favourite purely because you aren't into him as much as Tenant or Smith," Kaiba reasons. 

"So, about ten hours worth of food. Any preference," 

"Nope," 

Yami nods and calls for delivery, Kaiba snapping his fingers and revelation and leaning over the back of the couch. "And get bubbletea delivered!" 

"Already on it!" He replies in between conversation with Jou. Yami awkwardly reads he numbers off Kaiba's unlimited credit card down the phone - with permission of course. 

They drink bubbletea and watch Season 10, quickly getting restless from all these random nighttime sugar rushes. In the middle of the large living room at 4 am Yami suggests. "Let's do strength exercises!" 

Kaiba gives him an odd look. "Why?" 

"Because," Yami jumps up, clapping, eventful pumping through him. "I've been slacking on my workout since I stopped carrying boxes for the game shop and you're fit, but you're that skinny-fit and you'd look really toned if you put on muscle," 

"I'm fine the way I am, thank y-" 

 

Yami yanks the bubbletea from his hand and Kaiba glares at him in pure hatred. "Give it back!" 

"No, not until you work out with me," 

"Stop talking out your ass you pompous windbag!" Kaiba stands up to his full Hecht, crossing his arms - now comfortably - over his chest. 

"Oooh the mean adjectives, you're really serious about this," Yami laughs. "But so am I. I have so much energy Seto, my legs were bouncing on the couch!" 

"Mine too," the CEO admits. "Fine, we can do some stupid strength exercises since I'm physically able enough now," 

"Yeyyyy," Yami smiles cutely. They go press ups which Yami wins at, of course. But Kaiba has better cardio so he manages more sit-ups and a longer pike. In the end, Yami ends it early with damaged pride. "That wasn't fair Seto! You cheated," 

"How did I cheat?" He laughs. "You're just a sore loser," 

"You're a much worse loser than me," Yami defends. 

"True - but now I've finally found something I can beat you in. You may be the King of Games in this household but I'd win in an apocalypse," 

"You did beat me at board games once, remember?" Yami reminds him. 

"Yes, but that time I actually did cheat," Kaiba admits with a grin, dodging Yami's empty bubbletea cup being thrown at his head and laughing to drown out Yami's offended yells.


	30. Chapter 29: Love, Definitely.

"Noooo!" Kaiba flops onto the carpet in his own bedroom, holding his head in his hands and shuddering dramatically. He looks up at Yami, genuine anguish in his face and betrayal in his eyes. Maybe some tears too. "Why do I keep losing to you?!" 

Yami frowns and sits back. "It's no fun playing with you when I always beat you and you always do this!" Yami complains. "It's a friendly game with your boyfriend Seto, nobody's going to blame you for losing!" 

Kaiba sits up, crossing his arms and looking away. 

"And don't dare blame it on the hormones cause I did my research!" 

Kaiba laughs a little at that, slinking up and kissing Yami's cheek. "Losing to you is almost worth seeing your victory," he smirks. "Almost,"

"Best of 3?" Yami offers. Kaiba always agrees to best of 3 to redeem himself and his losses - not that he ever does. Unfortunately his boyfriend as already standing up. 

"No, i must get back to work. I've been spending far too much time away from the office," and who knows what disaster those idiots caused when I was gone. "I'll be back soon I promise. Besides, you have ducks to feed," Kaiba throws on his long white overcoat, stretching his arms up a little as he does. He was so frustrated without having full movement of them that now he does, he's taking every opportunity to. It's fun, but weird when Yami wakes up to see him randomly doing sit-ups at 3am. Grabbing his briefcase Kaiba heads for the door. 

"Seto?" 

He turns. "Yes?" 

"Forgetting something?" Yami quirks an eyebrow. Kaiba chuckles and comes back over, leaning down to hug him and kissing him on the lips, not passionately. 

"Now can I go to work?"

"Okay," Yami allows, watching him walk out the door before climbing back into Kaiba's bed and under dragon-themed covers. His bed is so warm, and it still smells like Kaiba, still molded to his shape that Yami lies on, cuddling the covers up to him and lying his head on Kaiba's pillow (which he'd hate, Kaiba is very protective of that pillow) feeling addicted to him. Addicted to Seto Kaiba, to everything him. To the colour of blue in his eyes and on his bedroom walls, to the softness of his hair and the way his voice cracks when he speaks in anything other than total asshole-monotone. 

Then Yami realises this isn't addiction. It's love.

He sits up, racking his brain for the origins of that word. Why love, and why now? He doesn't feel different about Kaiba, he's always been attracted to him. It's just intensified and now he can't live without him. Kaiba exists in all of his thoughts, always there to block out the man lost in his soul. Yami looks back, trying to remember the point he started feeling this way. He can't, instead running through a still movie of each little smile, grin, touch, joke, cuddle he's shared with Seto, because each one is rare and precious. It reminds him how much he must mean to Kaiba who's so apathetic to everyone else. Who shut everybody else out, but not Yami.

It's been a transition with a blurred timeline, so many overlapping emotions and discoveries. How much better they've gotten at communicating, how Kaiba opens up more. And Yami isn't scared once he passes the initial shock. "Yes," he decides aloud to himself. "I'm in love with Seto Kaiba," 

He showers and changes in 'his' room into nice clothing, pacing his jewellery in his ears and neck, including his favourite choker, and adding a little makeup too, just eyeliner.

* 

Downstairs, Mokuba and Kaiba discuss some changes in the Kaibalan contracts. At least they try to - the Kaiba brothers tend to stray off topic a lot. "When are you gonna get a new coat bro?" Mokuba asks. It isn't what he wants to ask but it's an avenue into the conversation. 

"Why would I get a new coat?" Kaiba demands. He loves his white one a lot more than his old purple ones. "I might upgrade this one, but I'm sticking with this design," 

"KaibaCorp should start a fashion line!" Kaiba thinks that isn't such a bad idea, and that he defiantly came up with it. He banks it for an interesting side project, but it'll have to wait until he gets the drinks cartons right ("they shouldn't bend so easily!")

"Soooo have ya told Yami you love him yet?" Mokuba grins over at his brother, who flips over a page and doesn't respond. "Oh that means you haven't!" 

Kaiba idly sips tea from his mug. "Correct, and I'm not going to. Not yet," 

"But you do love him though, right?" Kaiba doesn't answer. "Ooooh that means you do!" 

Kaiba rolls his eyes and slumps over on the table, closing over his laptop. "What will it take for you to stop annoying me over this?" 

Mokuba grins widely, knowing he's won. He rests his chin in his hands and sings. "Gotta tell Yami how you feel," 

Kaiba sighs. "I don't now, the last time I brought it up he didn't seem ready," 

"Since when have you cared about that?" Mokuba asks. 

"Since I started actually caring whether or not I lose him," Kaiba answers, trying to remember when exactly that was, his mind occupied in his memories of Yami. Mokuba shrugs, leaning back. 

"Well, you're Seto Kaiba. Gotta prove you're confident somehow bro," 

Kaiba can't disagree. Besides, he reasons, his communication with Yami hasn't been the best and it's fractured their relationship before, especially on Yami's end. If he's more open, that might improve. "Oaky, fine. I'll go now," he stands up, heading for the door. 

"Tell me what he says!" 

"Whatever his reaction, you'll probably hear it," Kaiba answers back. To avoid possibly getting scarred for life, Mokuba puts in his earbuds. 

Kaiba open his bedroom door to Bach's 5th playing quietly on his stereo, enveloping the room with its grandiose melodies. His thoughts sync to the tune, footsteps too, his entire body slowing to a dormancy, the reality appearing surreal yet sharp, everything emphasised to his eyes, especially colours. Yami is sitting on his bed, knees pulled up, looking incredibly sexy and put together. His smokey eyes blend back, making eye-colours pop and his cheekbones dynamic. His haughty smile widens as his head rests on Kaiba's very overstuffed Blue-Eyes stuffie. "Hi, Kaiba," 

'Kaiba' Yami hasn't called him that in a long time, which makes him worry for a second. Yami buries his face into Blue-Eyes' face, wondering why it's really so comfy. "Come to me!" he reaches out his arms and, moving on instinct, Kaiba slinks on top of him, kissing him deeply, softly for a second before they pull apart, staring into one another's eyes. "Hm, you look amazing Yami," Kaiba smiles slyly, reaching up to boop him nose. "I mean, not as attractive as me but..." 

Yami pouts and pushes him off. "Shut up," he chuckles. "Listen, I need to-" 

"Before you say anything," Kaiba inhales deeply, panic flashing in his eyes for a second before he calms to a loving smile, his eyes half-lidded in the high Yami gives him. "I love you, Yami Mutou," 

Yami's mouth drops, body freezing, mind blank of every desire, aversion, thought. Until he slams his own body into Kaiba, wrapping his arm's around his slender hips, lifting his head to kiss him himself. "I love you so much more, Seto Kaiba," 

Kaiba grabs Blue Eyes and holds the dragon up to his neck. "You're right, I love him way more than you," 

Yami shakes his head, chuckling. "I'm more jealous than I should be,"


	31. Chapter 30: Severing The Tie

Kaiba, Yami, Yugi and Mokuba sit around the blaring screen of his laptop, silent and waiting with bated breath, excitement pumping adrenaline through their systems. "What time is is?" Mokuba whispers, for words would shatter the tension in the room like crystals, broken pieces of glass pouring into them, shards embedding in ghetto skin. Yūgi looks at the little stamp at the corner of the screen. 

"Eight fifty. When are they due to give is an answer?" 

"Nine," Yami answers. "We have enough time to-" 

"Sssssshhhh!" Kaiba hisses, not removing his eyes from the 'Inbox' button. Every four seconds he counts in his head he clicks refresh. On the final time when he does, a new email has arrived! With shaking fingers he tries to click it before jolting back from the computer like it had electrocuted him. "Gah, I can't! You read it Mokuba!" He buries his face in his hands, peeking out from between his fingers. There is an incredibly tense silence, then- 

"We got KaibaLand!"

* 

The next day, the entire Kaiba family - Yugi and Yami included, because they belong with the Kaiba's now - rush through Domino Airport. This is the first time Kaiba's flown without his private jet and he curses himself for not building his own runway in New York, where the first version of KaibaLand has been erected. But American federal airspace laws are a bitch ("Seriously dicks, you can't own the sky. If you could I'd already own it, I control more assets than your entire country,") and don't take kindly to thread so Seto Kaiba is being forced to fly on a normal airplane, albeit in first class. As the only one with previous experience of a real airport it falls to Yami to dictate everything, everyone fumbling behind him, completely dependant. 

"What is this?!" Mokuba flops his boarding pass around in his hand. "Seriously, why do we need their own barcodes?" 

"Because we don't have identities here, Mokuba," Yami explains with an amused smirk, exasperated and huffing as they jog carrying too much luggage for their frail bodies to lift. "We are literally products to be bought and sold at this place," 

The uncomprehending child shrugs off the metaphor's ambiguity and sighs in deep relief along with the others when they reach the security checkpoint. Of course Kaiba is relived they aren't late, but a horrible feeling twists a knot in his stomach. Dread sweeping over him, the world blurring in and out of clarity, of matter. They stand between the railings and quickly, he grasps Yami's hand in his own, squeezing it tight and fighting to control his breathing under stress. 

Inhale, 1 2 3. Exhale. 1 2 3 4 5. He repeats, trying not to control it, because then he might overthink and misstep the breathing rhythm and - gah! Kaiba shakes his head, feet tapping and leg bouncing in erratic nerves. Yami looks up at Kaiba, softening his eyes before rubbing his thumb soothingly on Kaiba's palm. "Don't worry. They have no reason to search you, you're okay. You've done really well so far," 

"I'm not a child!" Kaiba hisses, but can't deny the rumbling baritone and comforting assurance makes his feel better. Yami learned long ago to base his comfort of Kaiba on logic. Telling Kaiba "they have no reason to search you," is Hella more helpful for him than "you're okay, you'll be okay," not only because it's not a lie, but because it's providing an actual solution Kaiba can validate.

Yami is covered in metal. Of course he is. His chain necklace clanks in the plastic tray, unbuttoning his wrist cuffs and placing them in too, along with us studded belt and boots. "That's everything," he chuckles, adding a brief. "I think..," but ends up needing to have his bag searched anyway because of the X-Rays. 

"Sir, that's this?" The security guard rolls his eyes, slamming a bottle down on the table. 

"My hairspray and gel!" 

"Why didn't you just put it in the hold?" Yūgi rolls his eyes, groaning in embarrassment. "Or better yet, leave it at home? They have hairspray in New York!" 

"Yeah but it's too expensive! I'm not paying $5 for hair gel!" 

Yūgi, the responsible one, passes through without incident. Mokuba is jittery, feeling exposed without his padded waistcoat but is also waves through. 

Kaiba's turn. 

His mind is plagued by horror stories of trans people outed, exposed, embarrassed, destroyed by social dysphoria in such a busy and packed space. He presses his chest and the skin feels constricted, tender. Like getting ghost pains from a binder he amputated from himself. He's dressed like he never normally would be, taking drastic measures to avoid the metal detectors and a subsequently lfrisk. 

Drastic measures like wearing sweatpants. Kaiba. In. Sweatpants! He tugs on the dark blue strings and tightens the waist of the white pants around his hips, kicking off his high boots and stripping of his coat. He fondles he lining of his pockets to convince him he's emptied of all metal before he inhaled sharply. Steps through the metal detector and holds his breath. 

He expected a sound but none comes. The man in front just shrugs, crossing his arms and directing Kaiba to the side to pick up his stuff and gestures for the man behind to step forward. "Move it," the man snaps at Kaiba, who's carried forward by the business but trapped in a euphoric surrealism. He made it out of there alive! Heart pumping with adrenaline (and the extreme self-consciousness of wearing sweatpants) he grins crazily when he's at the back tables and re-tying his boots. 

"I'm proud of you," Mokuba smiles a little, nodding fondly to his brother. Yūgi looks at him in confusion. 

"Why were you nervous?"

"He gets anxiety with this kind of thing," Yami comments dismissively, but he straddles Kaiba for a second, kissing him softly and taking time to whisper in his ear. "You did so well," 

"Thanks," Kaiba nods. 

"Don't thank me now - thank me after your reward tonight," Yami winks, making the grin return and stay permanent this time.

The plane ride is otherwise uneventful, except Kaiba having a panic attack at the quality of the plane bathroom, and Mokuba believing the in-flight food poisoned him. Yami just shakes his head and laughs at their reactions to the 99-percent life. If they act like this in first class, Yami makes a mental note to bring a first aid kit if they ever fly coach. Once they land and settle, a limousine drives them to KaibaLand. Surprisingly, this is one of Kaiba's least-grand entrances to anywhere.

Photographers snap pictures of him and reporters crowd him with questions but Kaiba's bodyguards keep them well away from the family. He ascends to the podium, grabbing the scissors and the microphone and kicking everyone else off his stage. "I built KaibaLand..."

Yami mouths. Don't do a monologue and Kaiba pouts for a second, but much to his chagrin just grabs the scissors and slices open the ribbon. "I declare KaibaLand officially open!" He yells, and hoards of kids and adults alike storm the place, rushing past him. It's enough to make him smile, although he'll forever insist it was a smirk. 

"This is great, big brother!" Mokuba cheers, running through to open his own attraction and try some of the challenging puzzles his brother created. 

"Glad you like it," he watches Yūgi and Yami head for the puzzle section. Yami stops, turning back to face him, his smile faltering to a worried frown. 

"Aren't you coming?" 

"No..." Kaiba admits. "I just want to be alone for a while," 

"Are you sure?" Yami furrows his brows, stepping forward and placing a supportive hand on his boyfriend's arm, squeezing it. "If you need to talk to me, you can,"

"I don't," Kaiba insists with a nod, disappearing into the crowd when Yami's grip on his arm falters. Yami searches the crowd for a flash of blue, but grins when the myriad of bright colours passing before his eyes distract him, making him run after Yugi, excited to discover the amazing products of Kaiba's deranged creativity. 

* 

Seto Kaiba stands in the glass elevator, blacked out by a scarlet sheet as he observes his creation. The metropolis of his own design. a shrine to the only thing that gave him motivation. His inspiration to exist. Not the Blue Eyes, no. It used to be the Blue Eyes, now it's Yami Mutou, he enters the penthouse office, romantic decor consuming him. He built this to be the honeymoon suite of his private hotel, however no honeymoon needed as he sits on the bed, waiting for the park to close and the machines to strip as much cash as possible from the customers. 

Yami frowns as the park closes, sun setting and temperature dropping. Where's Seto? He wonders in dejection, shoving his thumbs in his pockets and wandering towards the 'Authorised Persons Only' zone. He presses the buzzer and an unrecognised voice answers. 

"Please follow the staircase to the top floor, Yami," 

Yami sighs, keeping the confusion off his face as he ascends the staircase - so many stairs! - towards the top floor. If this is some weird game Seto I'm going to kill you! Only one door exists on the top floor and it looks like it's a game right enough. He's tempted not to open the door but he does, and is thankful he does so. 

Sitting on the loveseat is Seto Kaiba, dressed only in blue boxers with his hair pulled behind his ears. He grins, eyes half-lidded in seduction and head thrown back. He reaches down the side of the loveseat and reveals a bottle of aged champagne. "Welcome," he states. "We have all night to celebrate, shall we?" 

Yami grins back, hesitant though in his movements. "What about Yūgi and Mokuba?" 

"I gave them puzzle to solve. They won't be done for a while," he bites his lip a little, desire buildings in him as his heart pumps faster, stronger. A building intensity he won't be able to endure for long. "Come on, don't you trust me?" 

"Of course I do," Yami lets his weakened legs carry him, flopping down beside Kaiba who begins lightly running his hand up Yami's side, underneath his tight black tank. They lock lips and finally Seto Kaiba knows his own love, and has forgotten what it means to be afraid.


End file.
